Emotions can Kill
by insinr8
Summary: and Naruto is ruthless enough to use them that way. As an empath like Mito Uzumaki, but without the dream of becoming Hokage, how will Konoha fare? Darker and edgier Naruto.
1. Chapter 1

**This story involves a very different version of Naruto. He has an empathetic ability as an additional result of the influence of the Kyuubi.**

Chapter One

Naruto Uzumaki was eight years old. Naruto Uzumaki was full of hatred. This was not to say that the child could understand the concept of hatred. To ask him outright how he felt would yield the simplified answer "Angry." He was angry at the villagers. He was angry that they were angry at him and couldn't leave him alone. He was angry that they hurt him, a lot. He was angry that he wasn't big enough to change anything. On this fateful night, the anger would spill over, with far-reaching consequences.

One survivor of the day the Nine-Tailed fox destroyed a large section of Konohagakure had drunk themselves into an enraged stupor, and the eight-year old orphan had the misfortune to be passing him by. In his mind, the veteran nursed a deep-seated grudge against the beast, and had transferred it to the living prison, the mere sight of whom sent him lunging at the boy with a bottle. Naruto had nimbly dodged, taking satisfaction in seeing the short-sighted drunk eat the dirt as he missed. In fact, he had hit the ground hard enough that his two upper incisors, loosened from years of poor dental hygiene, snapped free of his Maxilla and leaving him with two bleeding holes in his mouth. In an impressive demonstration of sensitivity, the man howled in pain despite the effects of three bottles of a-hundred-and-twenty-proof liquor.

"Damn demon! You'll pay for that!"

"Shut up and leave me alone, fat mouth!"

In hindsight, that was not the smartest thing for Naruto to have done. The man chased after him, joined by similarly single-minded villagers along the way. Naruto stayed ahead through a combination of extreme frustration and an intimate knowledge of hiding spots and shortcuts. Inevitably however, the chase ended with Naruto cornered in an alleyway with more than thirty angry and (for some) severely inebriated villagers.

"You'll die today, demon brat!"

Naruto snarled at the hated epithet. "Leave me alone!"

The villagers paid no heed and advanced. Naruto could begin to make out the individual faces of his tormentors, and in each one saw how much he hated them. Unknown to his conscious mind, he instinctively began channeling chakra in a visible manner for the first time.

"I said-" he snarled once more as his chakra flared from his pores, taking on a purplish-black hue, and causing the villagers to stop in trepidation. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"The demon is breaking free!" a woman could be heard to scream.

"Kill him!"

The last thing Naruto would remember of that night was a thickset man throwing a badly formed punch at his face.

*break*

Hiruzen Sarutobi massaged his temples, wishing he could remember where he put his pipe and weed as he listened to the Commander General of the Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushi Butai explain what he had witnessed, while in nighttime civilian dress. Events had snowballed thanks large part to the resentment of the villagers that his late-would be successor had given his life to defend, against his son no less. It was only luck that the sole surviving student of the man had happened upon young Naruto and put an end to the violence.

_And to make things worse, I will have to deal with the Council demanding his head in the morning. Why oh why can't these people see reason? It isn't like the truth is beyond their capacity for understanding._

"Thank you Inu. You are dismissed for now. It may be necessary later for you to reiterate your account to the Council later. I would advise that you seek treatment for those marks on your arms."

"Hai." And the silver-haired shinobi stiffly marched from the room. Clearly the night had gotten to him.

The reinstated Sandaime Hokage sighed and turned his attention to the preliminary reports from the hospital. A grand total of ten people were hospitalized this night. Six villagers by Naruto's hand, three as a result of Inu's attempts to stop the incident, and Naruto himself, who was under observation by Tora and Tenzo and being closely examined by Inoichi Yamanaka. That last item had been at his own order. If he knew Inoichi as well as he did, the man should have finished by now.

In answer to those thoughts, the blond mind-walker was escorted into his office by his secretary, who withdrew after a short bow.

"You look like you've aged a good deal since I ordered you to examine the boy."

Inoichi managed a humorless smile. "I imagine that I don't look as bad as I feel," he threw out as he ran a hand through his hair.

"And how do you feel?"

The interrogation specialist grimaced. "I have never been so thoroughly ashamed to be part of Konoha. They treat Minato's son like dirt. Frankly speaking, I'm surprised Naruto didn't break earlier. In fact, it would have been better if he did because-"

"-his chakra coils would not have developed enough to enable what happened, correct?"

"Hai. The damage would have been significantly less."

Sarutobi laced his fingers together and rested his chin on them. "What have you uncovered?"

"The boy's mind is filled with hatred. It caught me off guard at first. I thought that maybe the Kyuubi was responsible. It wasn't. It was all just from the treatment piled on him by the village. Kicked out of the orphanage, mistreated by virtually everyone who comes into contact with him since he was born. The only good memories I could uncover involved you, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi closed his eyes for a moment. _How I wish that those moments with me and him were not the only ones he had…_

"I see."

"Naruto has no conscious memory of his actions. I can testify personally to that effect if need be."

"You will have to live up to that very soon. If I know those fools on the council, and I do, the summons for the meeting should arrive shortly."

The secretary from earlier tentatively eased open the door, holding a scroll.

*break*

"How much more proof do we need? The demon must be killed before it does this again!"

Shikaku Nara, the Jonin Commander, groaned to himself and his friends as they listened to the latest of the many rants calling for the death of Naruto Uzumaki. Really, these meetings served little purpose than to deny people sleep and waste their time. If the villagers didn't have the troublesome and pathological need to blame an individual for the attack eight years ago, this incident they were meeting on wouldn't have happened in the first place. A pity the troublesome dolt and others like him couldn't see that.

"Your proof," Fugaku Uchiha, head of the Police Force, replied. "is an occurrence resulting from an unprovoked assault on the boy by citizens whose judgment was severely impaired with alcohol. The boy was defending himself."

"The demon was breaking free!"

"Ah," Hiashi Hyuuga cut in. "so you imply that the judgment of people untrained in the arts of sealing, let alone combat, carries more weight than the report of a highly trained and decorated shinobi? A shinobi who remains the sole living student of the late Yondaime?"

The civilian sputtered indignantly.

"W-well no, but-"

"-but there is enough of this foolishness," Danzo Shimura, one of the three Konoha Elders snapped. "The boy has been examined by seal experts and Yamanaka-san personally and the Kyuubi is most certainly not breaking free."

"Frankly," Shibi Aburame commented. "I must question the wisdom of the village's citizens in general for believing that the best method of 'getting rid' of the Kyuubi is to repeatedly and deliberately antagonize its perceived avatar. Is not a demon one to seek vengeance for such offenses?"

That caused a great deal of nervousness on the part of the civilian council members, the Nara Clan head was amused to see. And it would only get better, for him. It would be become worse for them.

"As Danzo-sama said," his blond friend announced. "I evaluated Naruto Uzumaki when the boy arrived at the hospital. I am shocked, quite frankly, at the damage to his mind you and others like you have inflicted on him. You took it upon yourself to torture a _child!_ Can you blame him if he hates Konoha enough to want to see it disappear?"

"He is a demon! We can see it! Why can't you?"

The Sandaime Hokage spoke for the first time in the meeting. "Perhaps it is because we understand that appearances often have little to do with the truth of matters." He glared at the civilian council member. "Your actions are despicable. Your victim is eight years old. You have been treating him this way since he was born. His life is a sacrifice to keep the Kyuubi safely imprisoned. His very existence ensures that you and your families do not suffer the wrath of the beast a second time! Your attempts to kill him _would have negated the Yondaime's sacrifice and you would once again be at the mercy of the demon!_ Does the will of the Yondaime mean nothing to you?" He rose from his seat as the temperature of the room seemed to drop a number of degrees. "Do you have so little faith in him that you would dishonor his memory by attacking a child he wanted honored as a hero for his part in stopping the Kyuubi?"

Any remaining confidence the civilian leader had, Shikaku was glad to see, disappeared under the verbal assault of the most powerful man in the village. He decided it was his turn to speak.

"Hokage-sama, clearly returning Naruto to the streets is out of the question if he will continue to suffer the same continued treatment. What will be his future living arrangements?"

"That remains to be decided. I imagine that the _wisdom_ of this _Council_ could aid me in forming a solution."

Inoichi gestured. "If I may, hokage-sama, I suggest placing Naruto under the supervision of the Hyuuga clan."

There was silence. Hiruzen frowned in thought. "And your reasoning?"

"In the event that Naruto snaps again, there is the matter of damage control. He would need to be restrained either physically or mentally. Mentally is out of the question, if I read the report Kakashi Hatake filed correctly. I am the most knowledgeable in my clan's techniques, and I am not certain if I can subdue him at all. Hatake-san used a mid-ranked genjutsu against the boy and it had no effect. Stronger genjutsu would run the risk of destabilizing his mind even further. The only way he was able to restrain the boy was by forcing his way through the aura of chakra surrounding him and physically knocking him unconscious. The Jyuuken of the Hyuuga clan would be best for incapacitating him as they would be able to easily penetrate the chakra shroud and disable him if need be."

Danzo furrowed his brow. "You mentioned damage to the boy's mind. Would that also need to be dealt with?"

"That would require people around him to not be hostile to him. It would simply be a matter of finding guardians willing to treat him like a human being instead of a demon. That would be something for Hiashi-sama to look into."

Sarutobi looked at the clan head. "Hiashi?"

Hiashi nodded. "If necessary, I would look after the boy personally."

"Very well. If there is no other issue of _serious import_, let this meeting be adjourned."

*break*

Naruto woke to find himself once again in the hated hospital, sitting across from Old Man Hokage.

"How are you feeling Naruto?" the elderly leader asked.

Naruto's eyes flashed with hate. "Why can't they leave me alone? I didn't do a thing to them!"

The hokage sighed. "They can't see the truth. You have to understand that you represent something they don't like. They see you as the source of their pain."

The blond boy bared his teeth in a snarl. "That's not a reason to do this to me! I didn't do anything wrong! They attacked ME!"

"Naruto!" Sarutobi raised a hand. "I am not holding you responsible for anything. I am just trying to answer your question. They just don't know any better."

"Well you're the hokage! Why don't you MAKE them know better?"

The hokage closed his eyes to ward off the incoming headache. "If only it were that easy Naruto… I came to let you know that you will be adopted by a clan. It is for your safety. They will make sure that you don't get attacked by the villagers anymore."

"Really old man? Says who?"

"I do. Naruto, don't you trust me?"

"You told me that the villagers would change, that maybe they might stop treating me like this! What about that, huh?"

"Very well. Have I ever done anything to hurt you?"

"Not yet!"

"Well I assure you that won't happen. You can trust me on that."

Naruto took a good long look into the Sandaime's eyes. The hokage did not look away, knowing that Naruto needed visual assurance. The hatred slowly melted away, to be replaced by a tentative hope.

"You promise?"

"I promise."

Naruto finally let tears form. It was just so unfair! He hadn't done anything! Why…

"Naruto, come here…"

The young boy and the old man shared a hug, the old man cursing himself that he couldn't do more for him.

*break*

Hinata Hyuuga's first experience outside of her clan compound was not shaping up well. She sat on the swings near the academy desperately wanting to be anywhere else but right here listening to the three bullies in front of her.

"Aww, the rich girl is crying! Whatsamatta, want daddy to help you?"

Naruto walked by just then, passing through the playground as a shortcut to the Hyuuga compound under the Sandaime's instructions. This didn't go unnoticed.

"Hey demon boy!"

He looked up to see three children by the swings looking at him. He glared and raised a balled fist with the longest digit extended.

"Go die in a hole, fathead!"

"What was that?" the three kids walked away from Hinata, who looked on in worry. The bullies were going to beat him up!

"Go. Die. In. A. Hole. Fat. Head. Am I going too fast for you?" Naruto braced himself.

"Your fucking dead, demon boy!"

"No don't-" Hinata cried in protest as the tallest of the bullies threw a punch at the blond whiskered boy. Then things happened.

Naruto caught the boy's fist with his right hand, and dug his nails into the fist. His rage boiled over again and he instinctively channeled his chakra. "You first," he growled as the boy screamed at the burning sensation on his hand. Then he quickly let go and hit the larger boy in the stomach hard enough to fling him back five feet. The other boys were stunned. The blond turned his attention to them. "You want some too?"

The bullies ran, screaming in fear, while Naruto glared at their backs for a good minute until they were out of sight. "Stupid people just can't leave me alone…" he muttered as the chakra cloak dissipated. He never once noticed the Hyuuga heiress watching him with wide eyes on the swings as he resumed walking toward the Hyuuga compound.

**More to come. Please Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow. I can honestly say I wasn't expecting this big a response after just one freaking night! Well, here's chapter two. Don't worry, I'll be explaining his empathetic link next chapter.**

Chapter Two

It had been four years since the incident that had brought Naruto into his clan, and Hiashi had dealt with his share of headaches. As it turned out, a sizeable portion of the clan sided with the civilian population in their opinion of the boy. That eliminated any chance of his mingling with the clan majority and making friends. He settled on having a retainer live with the boy in a rented apartment just outside the clan compound. Then there was the matter of training him. Minato had been a close friend of his. He would be damned if he didn't ensure the only son of his friend was trained properly. He had ensured that the boy was taught the basics that the academy conveniently left out for him. He had also pitted his nephew and eldest daughter against the boy, hoping to give them all the drive to succeed, all in spite of the howls of protest from the clan elders.

The results were somewhat satisfying. Neji was glad to have a decent sparring partner to beat on. However, his vindictiveness was somewhat worrying. Naruto had difficulty controlling his temper at first, but with an introduction to meditation and several discussions with the hokage regarding what he could and could not tell the boy, the blond had reformed his personality into that of a proper fighter, though not of the Jyuuken style. He still held the village in deep disdain however, and in the first year had been sufficiently provoked to send no less than four villagers to the hospital for treatment. Oddly, he seemed to adopt Neji's personality when they sparred.

With Hinata, it was another story. He had heard from her how the boy had inadvertently defended her from some bullies. It had inspired her to stand up for herself a bit more. The improvements were not noticeable at first, but when Naruto was glowering from the sidelines or otherwise in a non-confrontational position with regards to her, she pushed herself harder than usual, surprising both Hanabi and Neji in their respective spars. When pitted against Naruto however, she regressed, seemingly not able to bring him any harm. Naruto himself noticed and had asked her what was wrong. The first time it happened, it took Hiashi aback. Given Naruto's personality, he would have expected him to take advantage rather than offer some sympathy to an opponent. He then reflected that it was what Hinata had done once to Hanabi in their first spars. In a moment of fancy, he imagined that perhaps his daughter brought out the boy's softer side.

In the aforementioned incidents, Hiashi had been forced to make small reparations for Naruto's victims. He made certain to have the retainer impress upon the blond that the training he received should not be used on the population. At the end of the year, Naruto finally trusted his guardian enough to let him handle the villagers, as his authority as a shinobi afforded him. Like his mother-now _there_ was a headstrong young woman- trust came very hard to him.

One issue that had quickly come up in the course of Naruto's academy enrollment was his usage of chakra. All of the people who had come into contact with it had suffered severe chakra burns that took months to heal. Once early on, his guardian had come in on the boy to see him wreathed in the violet malevolence pounding on a training post at the Hyuuga grounds and burning the wood with every strike. Inoichi had given caution to Hiashi's own desire to train the boy to use his chakra properly. Teaching him any technique at all ran the risk of the boy using it on a villager antagonizing him and potentially killing them, and escalating the headaches even more. The blond mentalist had recommended that Naruto learn meditation to control his emotions and maintain a level head before teaching him anything else.

Another problem quickly came to light: the academy exam requirements. Of the three basic jutsu, Naruto could perform the henge and the kawarimi with no serious issues. The problem was the bunshin. No matter how much coaching his assigned retainer could give him, Naruto simply couldn't control his chakra enough to create an illusory clone. The Sandaime had a solution, but the question again came up about teaching Naruto a combat technique that could potentially be misused. Kakashi Hatake, who had been retiring from ANBU that day, had been the deal breaker. The jutsu in question, Kage Bunshin, was a particularly draining technique. He reasoned that if Naruto abused it, the boy would quickly exhaust himself, and the copies could be easily disposed of. What nobody had counted on was how many clones the boy could create. Kakashi had spent the better part of that first month twitching every time he saw blond locks and grey-and-black patterned clothing as he had been assigned to clean up any potential mess Naruto might make with that technique by a vengeful Sarutobi.

Hiashi smirked to himself in his private office as he remembered one time that Naruto had capitalized on that bit of leverage. After a particularly long spar with Neji, Naruto had blackmailed the jonin into taking the boy, Hinata and Hanabi out for ramen at a stand he had quickly discovered in the first year with the clan, Ichiraku's. That had been the first time anyone had seen the boy genuinely smile, let alone laugh as all of them had watched the former ANBU Comander General suffer a nervous breakdown at the sight of what was later found to be over three hundred clones of the boy ready to play 'tag' all over the village. Even Hinata found memories of the man rocking back and forth on the training grounds mumbling something about cursed blond rodents highly amusing.

But today would be the end of all that. Provided that things went properly, Naruto would be made a genin and his status as a shinobi would be set. He would be earning money on missions to support himself and Hiashi would have fulfilled his self-appointed duty to his late superior and friend. When the boy came home, he would discover a nice little graduation present in the form of a two-year lease on that same apartment he now lived in, to be paid back in an unspecified amount of time. Hiashi honestly didn't care if it was repaid. The Hyuuga coffers, contrary to what the elders insisted in regards to his care of Naruto, would never really notice a difference.

He stood from his chair and moved toward the door. He had to see his daughter off on such an important day as the exams after all.

*break*

Naruto and his guardian, whom a number of villagers had quickly learned not to antagonize, arrived at the academy. The branch member quickly disengaged and disappeared to the nearest watering hole to wait for his charge, as usual, while Naruto himself made his way into the academy, ignoring the dark looks and whispers. When he made it to his classroom, with Iruka Umino and his assistant Mizuki, he took his usual seat in the back corner. Two of his only friends in the room were already there, Shikamaru Nara was sleeping and Chouji Akimichi was eating, as usual.

The blond recalled how he first met them. He had specifically selected a seat in the back corner so no one could approach him by surprise. The Nara had chosen the back simply to draw less attention to his habit of sleeping in class, while the Akimichi followed his friend everywhere. The fact that neither had an opinion on him had been a refreshing change from the glares he usually got from other people. The Nara had woken up later that day and almost immediately asked why the blond was acting like he was about to be attacked. Unable to sense any ill intent, Naruto had found himself talking coolly, dispassionately, but openly to the pineapple head and the rotund boy next to him. Having someone accept him for what he was without any negative thought was a new experience. They had become quite close.

Hinata came in two minutes later, and after a nervous glance at Naruto behind her, she took her seat. The stress of an exam combined with the presence of her inspiration/crush was nerve-wracking for her. She used her bloodline to watch him and try and partake in his self-confidence, and steel herself for what was coming, until Iruka announced the start of the school day.

"Alright, sit down and shut up! Today is the day of graduation! Pass this exam, and you will have earned placement on a genin team. Fail, and you will have to repeat this year."

Mizuki nodded and picked up. "For part one: when we call your name, you will come up and demonstrate the henge and the bunshin. You will then return to your seat and _quietly_ wait for your classmates to finish part one."

One by one, the students each walked to the front of the room and henged into either Iruka or Mizuki, and then formed three clones. Naruto could feel some unpleasant expectations from Mizuki, rather than the simple curiosity from Iruka as he formed the hand seal for his own bunshin.

"Kage Bunshin," he called out, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. _Kage_ bunshin? Three shadow clones formed in a puff of smoke, blinking and waiting for their marks.

Iruka's brow shot up. "Where did you learn-"

"The old man showed me," Naruto casually replied, throwing both instructors for a loop at how casually the prospective genin referred to the village leader.

"Um…very well Naruto. Return to your seat."

Naruto dispelled his clones and walked back, wondering about Mizuki's disappointment towards him. Meanwhile, a former ANBU sighed in relief as the blond didn't make a mess for him to clean up.

The boy didn't pay much attention to the rest of the students as they took their turn. He did note that Sasuke Uchiha was eyeing him with ill-concealed jealousy. The relationship between the two of them was complicated. The Uchiha Clan massacre had happened after Naruto had been given to the Hyuugas. Sasuke had initially been uninterested in Naruto until the boy had accidently borne witness to one of Naruto's savage beatdowns on a villager who had attacked him. The villager had been a dropout of the academy years ago, and Naruto had simply lunged at him, coated in chakra, and placing the man in the hospital for some months with severe chakra burns. That had been a display of power to startle the young clan orphan. Since then, he had been carefully measuring himself against the blond, and found himself wanting. Granted, the boy was trained by a Hyuuga retainer while he himself only had old scrolls and memories of his traitorous brother to learn from, but he wanted that kind of power. Whenever the time came for in-class sparring, he had made sure to be Naruto's opponent in as many matches as possible. They ended up being more or less evenly matched, but the Uchiha wanted an all-out battle to see who was really the stronger of the two. Naruto didn't care. A fight was a fight. Training was training.

Then the class moved on to part two: target practice. This was an affair that Naruto and Sasuke both wound up with 19 out of 20. Hinata had 17, Shikamaru and Chouji had 14. It didn't really matter, since this part was more to determine class rankings. Part three was one that many were looking forward to. It was finally a chance for the students to go all out on each other, though several other instructors remained on hand to keep an eye on the fights.

Naruto simply brutalized his way through, focusing on targeting non-vital but painful areas to force the other students into surrender, until he found himself matched against Sasuke after fighting Kiba Inuzuka. Sasuke for his part had barely managed to best Chouji, who was far stronger than he looked. It was looking to be the prime spectacle for the graduation exams. Hinata looked on anxiously along with Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka as the two boys were waved into the ring.

"Final bracket in this exam, hajime!"

Naruto stood still while Sasuke threw himself into a charge, racing to deliver an overhead kick. Naruto leaned to the left, ducking and spinning under Sasuke to aim a punch at his back as he landed. Sasuke pivoted left and used his right hand to deflect the blow before sending a left hook for Naruto's face. Naruto tilted his head to the right and brought up his left arm to deflect the punch and following the motion with a hard left rising knee aimed at Sasuke's left shoulder. Sasuke used both his hands to shove Naruto's leg to his left, spinning his opponent around. Naruto added his own momentum to it and extended his right arm in a horizontal chop that forced Sasuke to lean back to avoid. Seizing a moment of opportunity, he lunged with a hard left jab that Sasuke barely managed to rotate out of the way, shoving Naruto on the left shoulder in an effort to push him out of the ring. Naruto stopped himself and they faced off once again.

Naruto opened this time, coming in low to deliver a hard right leg sweep that forced Sasuke into a one-handed cartwheel over him. The boys both turned quickly around and punched with their right arms at the same time. There they were, locked together, Naruto's left holding Sasuke's right and Sasuke's left holding Naruto's right. It would now become a game of footwork between the two as they slowly circled. Naruto moved first, twisting left to attempt a back left kick and forcing Sasuke to release as he was pushed back toward the ring boundary. Naruto saw an opportunity and lunged in an attempt to force the Uchiha to lose by ring-out. Sasuke tried to regain his balance in time, but it was too late. The force of their collision sent him falling backward and landing with his hands outside the ring.

"Time! Winner, Naruto, ring-out!"

A few of the instructors glared daggers at Naruto, who simply ignored them as he returned to his seat.

"Way to show off, Naruto. How troublesome…"

"Good fight Naruto. Wish that could have been me."

Hinata had her head down. Her idol had fought so well against Sasuke, who was being fawned over by the two girls sitting in front of her. The grace, the utter lack of hesitation, the almost surgical precision, it made her feel weak in comparison. She was the clan failure. How could she match up?

Mizuki ground his teeth. The brat had passed! He had been certain that the demon would mess up on the bunshin! Oh well, there was always Plan B.

*break*

Kakashi had taken Naruto out to celebrate his graduation at Ichiraku's. It was another of the rare times anyone had seen the blond in high spirits. Naruto couldn't care less about what happened next as a genin. He was simply waiting for the opportunity to get out of the village on missions, and away from the village that had tortured him so. They had been chatting and eating with the proprietor and his daughter, Teuchi and Ayame, until a random chuunin happened by and stopped upon seeing Kakashi.

"Hatake-san, the forbidden scroll is missing! Hokage-sama has ordered us to search for the thief!"

Kakashi had flown off his seat and disappeared so fast that his bowl was left spinning. Naruto frowned. This was something he could help with, but should he? Well maybe he would. The old man was asking for help. He got off his stool.

"I'll be back for the rest," he told the two as he formed the seal for the kage bunshin. At once, two hundred copies of himself split off and began combing the village. He sprinted in the direction of the Hokage tower, stopping only when he sensed something off. The atmosphere around him was one of panic. There was something else out there that didn't quite fit. He just couldn't put his finger on it. He turned and moved in that direction, sensing a number of his clones ahead of them who had apparently thought the same thing. Something was up.

*break*

Mizuki swore as he was forced to stop again and avoid sweep of chuunin. It was the sixteenth time and the sixteenth interruption! The window for escape was getting smaller and smaller. He needed to get out before they locked down the area completely. When the pair finally disappeared, he stood back up and ran, trying to put as much distance as possible between him and the village until a familiar sight brought him to a stop.

"Mizuki-sensei," Naruto growled at him from in front. "I thought something was off about you."

The traitor grinned. Here was his chance to get revenge. "And what are you going to do about it demon brat?"

"I'm going to stop-" Naruto was cut off as Mizuki launched a vicious haymaker at his face, sending him crashing into the trees behind him.

"I'm guessing you're wondering why everyone calls you demon," Mizuki called as he threw a few exploding kunai. "Want to know?"

Naruto appeared from the left in an attempt at an overhead heel drop. "Do tell," he growled as the traitor blocked and threw him off.

"It's because you ARE one! You are the Kyuubi that destroyed Konoha twelve years ago! And now, you're going to die you fucking demon!"

Whatever reason Naruto had imagined, he hadn't expected that. Mizuki took advantage of the lull to send an oversized shuriken his way, pinning him through the ribcage to a nearby tree.

"Hah, that was almost too easy demon brat!"

But Naruto burst into a puff of smoke.

"What? Kage Bun-" Mizuki was suddenly forced to dodge a wave of projectiles from seemingly every direction. To top it off, he was suddenly acutely aware of a murderous intent bearing down on him from the direction of the village. The storm of flying weaponry was preventing him from making any headway. When it stopped however, he saw an unscathed and extremely enraged Naruto standing in the clearing. The weapons littering the ground disappeared in smoke.

"Mizuki, I am going to KILL YOU!" Naruto's chakra surrounded him in a now pitch-black aura that radiated danger. As if that weren't enough, the plants nearby were instantly withering away. The traitor had very little time to think as Naruto lunged at him, clawed hands extended.

*break*

Never had Kakashi felt such killer intent from a genin. From the Kyuubi, yes. The beast had been a construct of chakra and pure malevolence after all. But for a child to generate it to this degree was simply unheard of. He raced toward the source, arriving to find Mizuki torn limb from limb, blood splattering the trees and the dead grass, and Naruto repeatedly smashing the traitors severed head against a rock in the throes of rage. He rushed over to the boy.

"Naruto! Stop it! Snap out of it! He's dead!"

Naruto paused, glared at Kakashi hard enough to make the jonin take a cautionary step back, and then roared before crushing Mizuki's head into pulp on the rock. The jonin tentatively walked forward, hesitant to touch the blond while he was shrouded in that black chakra. It seemed to take forever, but Naruto eventually let the chakra drop. Kakashi gingerly grabbed his shoulder, hoping to calm the boy even more, when Naruto's next words made him freeze.

"He said I was the Kyuubi. He said that was why this fucking village hates my guts."

The former ANBU Commander General let out a world-weary sigh. "I think we need to talk to the Hokage."

*break*

This was getting to be a familiar routine, Hiruzen mused. Some incident would occur involving the blond pariah and he would be the one sorting out the mess.

"Naruto," he began. "I couldn't tell you before. I just-"

"Why the hell not, old man?"

_Leave it to Naruto to cut to the heart of the matter._

"I wanted you to be mature enough to try and see why things happened the way they did. Be honest: if I had told you four years ago that you are the container for the Nine-Tailed Fox, would you have considered breaking the seal on your chest and releasing it on the village?"

"Seal? What-"

"Channel your chakra and look at your chest," the hokage ordered. "You will see what I mean."

Bewildered, Naruto complied and was stunned to see a large circular diagram seemingly tattooed on his stomach.

"In that seal on your body is the Kyuubi. You yourself are most certainly NOT the demon. You are simply its jailer. By living, you keep the rest of the village safe. Unfortunately, the villagers don't see that."

Naruto was getting angry again.

"Why couldn't you tell them about that? If I'm just the jailer, why don't those assholes get it? Why do they think I'm the fucking demon?"

"Naruto, people see what they want to see, and believe what they want to believe. They lost much when the Kyuubi attacked Konoha. They suffered a lot, and wanted someone to blame. I tried to tell them the truth, but many of them don't understand. They can't understand, because they can't move past what happened to them."

"That's no excuse!"

"Naruto, I am not defending them. I am just trying to explain what they are going through. Think about it: you have the strongest connection to the Kyuubi, the beast that destroyed their lives in the past. They hate the beast, but they transferred that hatred to you because you have that connection. I agree it is unfair. The only way it will stop is if you can show them you aren't the demon."

"And how would I do that?"

Sarutobi sighed. _Here comes the hard part._

"Protect them, Naruto. The demon caused destruction. You are the guardian. If you protect them, they will see that you are not the demon."

"Why should I? They don't deserve it-"

"That way of thinking is the reason the village treats you the way it does. They think that you do not deserve to be treated as a human. You aren't giving them a chance to change your mind just as they are not giving you the chance. One side must give before change can happen. You are better than them, Naruto. Prove it! Give them that chance! Show them that you are better than they are by changing, and they will do the same."

Naruto fell silent, glowering at the floor. The hokage sighed. He had said his piece. The question was now whether or not Naruto would accept it. He motioned to Kakashi, who nodded before gesturing to Naruto to follow him out the door. After the door shut behind them, he took the moment to rest his eyes. "What a night this is…"

**More to follow. Review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**This chapter should clear a few things up for all of you reading and wondering about Naruto's abilities.**

Chapter Three

Tsume Inuzuka shivered in spite of her training, experiences, and the fact that the weather this morning was a balmy 25.3 degrees Celsius. Even knowing what had happened here wasn't enough to banish the chill that lingered behind. Her partner, Kuromaru, had found himself _whimpering_ when they had arrived at the sight of the forest…well, the term "battle" didn't seem quite appropriate as there was only one victim. Neither could find an explanation for how a twelve-year old boy could produce enough killing intent to linger in the area for hours afterward, never mind the dead vegetation, or the necrotic tissue at the sites of injury to Mizuki's body.

According to the coroner's report, Naruto Uzumaki had utilized some sort of technique to cause instant cell death through apoptosis at the points of contact. Naruto himself denied any knowledge of such a technique. Few were inclined to believe that, in his words, "It just happened." Whatever the boy had done was, in the estimation of the few combat medics on hand, the polar opposite of medical jutsu. Tsume was not one of the many. The reports of the event implied that Naruto had lost his focus and had been running on instincts. There were many battlefield legends who had absolutely no idea what they had done the first time around. She wouldn't have been surprised-hell, she would have PREFERRED it- if Naruto had tapped into the Kyuubi's chakra. According to Jiraiya-sama, the seal had been designed with that in mind.

But that wasn't it. Kakashi Hatake had been very clear about the absence of the Kyuubi's influence. And so she and Kuromaru were walking about the site investigating every place that Naruto had left his chakra behind, to gather data for medical and mental (it probably had SOMETHING to do with mental if Yamanaka-san had made it a favor to request her specifically) purposes.

"What have we become to make a child do this?"

Kuromaru looked up at his mistress.

"I shudder to consider the possibilities. At the very least, the boy does have some people to show the good in them around him. Imagine if no one gave him a reason to care about people at all."

Tsume shuddered. "He probably would have gone nuts, and we'd all be dead with a Nine-Tailed nightmare standing over our corpses."

"Well it's for certain I'll probably be having nightmares about this, and I am not looking forward to those."

"Have you noticed how every place that the Uzumaki touched is saturated with embedded killing intent?"

"I do find it curious. Mistress, are there any abilities or attacks that leave behind emotions?"

Tsume snorted. "_I_ sure as hell don't, and I don't think Old Man Sarutobi knows either, at least nothing that a shinobi is capable of. The Bijuu? Sure. We've seen how they leave traces of themselves and their hate wherever they go."

"Is it possible that this ability might stem from the Kyuubi?"

"You're asking the wrong woman here."

*break*

The coroner and his assistant carefully separated the body parts for reconstruction, though the head would not be recovered.

"Jeez, what a mess."

The coroner looked sideways at his assistant.

"No the death was a clean one," he snapped sarcastically.

"Enough. We're all on edge here. No need to get nasty," the sensor shinobi in the room cautioned as he came forward to being the examination. Not of the cause of death. That was so obvious as to be blackly comical. He was here at hokage-sama's orders to look for anything unusual. _That's really specific,_ he thought. _There's a bunch of things unusual with this. Hmm, there's killing intent embedded in the wounds. Very faint, but it's there. It probably means that Uzumaki left traces of his chakra in the tissue. It's here on the chest, over here where the arm was cleanly severed-that's odd…_

"Doctor, what do you make of this?"

The coroner walked over to his shoulder and bent down.

"It appears to be some slight chakra burning, at contact level. Weird. Apoptosis doesn't usually go hand in hand with heat damage from chakra."

"I have to get a report up to hokage-sama quickly."

*break*

Inoichi was rarely comfortable in the presence of the three Konoha Elders, even with the Sandaime in the room with them. Still, he would wager that the medical liason was a good deal more uncomfortable. _It's not every day you're party to a meeting of the village high authorities, for some people anyway._

"Well, you've read the reports on this matter Yamanaka-san," Homura commented. "What are your thoughts?"

_Way to turn up the pressure…_ "If you have also seen the previous medical reports on Naruto Uzumaki's older victims, you may note the similarities between them involving contact damage and his unique chakra. In Naruto's own words, you will note that he could sense 'in the panic of the village someone not acting right.' He also sensed Mizuki 'wanted him to fail' and was 'not happy that he passed the exam.' Now that could simply be paranoia, but Naruto was very specific in describing how Mizuki seemed to feel about him, which would imply one of two things. The first is that he was very familiar with the traitor. However, given reports from both Hiashi's retainer and Kakashi, that is out of the question."

"And the other possibility?" Danzo asked.

Inoichi shifted. "I hesitate to think it, but it's a distinct possibility that Naruto Uzumaki can sense emotions."

The hokage shared a look with the three elders, seemingly unsurprised by this turn of events. Inoichi's curiosity was piqued.

"Seina Kinzou, you are dismissed." The medical liason nervously bowed and withdrew. The Sandaime waited for the door to close completely before continuing. "You know of Mito Uzumaki? The wife of the Shodaime?"

Inoichi cocked his head at the odd question. "I recall reading a footnote about her in the history books, but other than that, no."

Sarutobi sighed. "I don't have to tell you the importance of secrecy on this topic. Mito Uzumaki was the first container for the Kyuubi."

"What?"

"You heard me. She was said to have mastered control over its chakra to the effect that she could sense negative emotions. Under her guidance, no spies of other nations could long last within our walls. Any ill will, no matter how small, would be found and dealt with."

"Then is it possible that Naruto is related to the Shodaime?"

"Only by his marriage to the Uzumaki clan," Koharu answered. "His own mother, Kushina Uzumaki, was the second container. She did not have such mastery, but the boy was conceived and born while she was the Jinchuuriki. In the immediate events afterward, the Kyuubi was somehow released."

"So, this may be a genetic quirk due to the Kyuubi's influence?"

"It is likely not the sole factor," Koharu cut in. "Tsunade Senju's father was also born to a Jinchuuriki, but he never showed any signs that he could sense emotions of any kind."

"But the question lingers," Sarutobi asked. "how does an empathetic ability relate to his unique chakra? Naruto is able to inflict skin damage on contact when he is using his chakra. Controlling that was the reason we had Hiashi teach him meditation. The abilities are not separate. That much is clear. No member of his clan possessed his ability."

Inoichi thought a moment. "I noticed some differences on the medical reports for last night and the other incidents. This is the first time the examiners mentioned induced cell death. All the other times, his victims were burned. Naruto says in his own questioning session that this was the first time he truly wanted to kill someone. There is a possibility that his own emotional state influences his chakra."

"That certainly isn't out of the question," Danzo murmured. "The Kyuubi is a being of malice, and the effects of its' chakra are well documented as being highly corrosive to living flesh."

"But if Naruto's abilities relate to his own emotions, then mental discipline is an issue of greater import than for most shinobi," Homura commented. "It would not do for his teammates to suffer permanent or crippling damage in a light spar simply because he lost control of his emotions."

Sarutobi started to say something, and then paused. "Inoichi, if we assume that Naruto is more or less an empath, would that have any effect on his mental development given the surroundings he was brought up in?"

"That's a hard judgment to make," Inoichi rubbed his face. "When I think about it, children are the most vulnerable to outside influences. The treatment of adults has profound effects on the developing mind even without any sort of justification. Naruto's sensitivity to the emotions of his tormentors may have caused him to mirror those feelings of hatred and frustration. He would not know why he felt so strongly because he was unaware of his ability. It isn't normal at all for a child to feel so much hate. It's much more probable that it was absorbed through osmosis."

The Sandaime was relieved, and it was clear on his face. "Then my failure isn't the only reason Naruto turned out like this. He can still be saved."

Danzo was speculative. "With an ability like that, the boy would be able to do a great deal more to help the village from a diplomatic or interrogative position. Certainly he would be a boon in aiding us to get rid of corruption."

"He has no training," Koharu objected. "And given the history he has suffered, there is little guarantee he would be willing to aid the village."

The hokage was much more optimistic. "There is only one way to find out."

*break*

Naruto hadn't gotten any sleep because he was still turning the old man's words over in his mind. It wasn't as though it was a difficult chain of logic to follow. It just went against his very nature. But the more he focused on it, the more he had to grudgingly admit that the old man was right. As it was, things would never change. People wouldn't accept him because they weren't giving him a chance, and he couldn't accept them because he himself wasn't allowing them the chance. _Well fuck this! Fine! I'll protect them, I'll give them a chance, but I'm taking a chance from them whether they like it or not!_

Kakashi hadn't slept much either, nervous as he was about Naruto suddenly going ballistic and tearing any bystanders, namely him, a brand new asshole. At least Naruto had spent the night in his own room glaring at the ceiling instead of restlessly pacing. Then the probability that he would have to restrain the boy would have tripled. But today was the day he hoped things would change for the better. He watched as Naruto roused himself, dressed and left for the last day of the academy.

Iruka was waiting for him. He was of a neutral opinion about Naruto. Yes, the boy had hospitalized a number of people, but the hokage had shown him the incident reports and all of them had been instigated by the villagers. Yes he was highly anti-social, but that was most certainly due to the treatment he had suffered. Yes the boy was violent, but he was a budding shinobi with, if not a chip then certainly a massive chunk on his shoulder. Kakashi had taken him aside once when he expressed his doubts about teaching the boy. Four words: give him a chance. He had, and Naruto had taken it upon himself to prove he was a fine student. He smiled. The boy had earned his place on a genin team.

Kakashi watched from outside the window as Iruka announced the teams, anticipating the look on the blonds face.

*break*

Barely a week ago, Kakashi and the other free jonin had been gathered for preliminary team assignments. Asuma Sarutobi was assigned to the newest generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. He himself was given the Uchiha orphan, a girl of civilian heritage and the problem child of the Inuzuka. Kurenai Yuhi, whom pretty much everyone in the room knew had an on-off relationship with the hokage's son, had a team with the Hyuuga princess, the Aburame prodigy and the village pariah.

"I assume that none of you have any objections?" Sarutobi cocked an eyebrow as Kakashi raised a hand while keeping his nose embedded in an orange covered book with a highly suggestive title. Kurenai and Asuma glared at him in disapproval.

"If it's no problem with anyone, I would like to switch Kiba for Naruto. It would probably be better for all involved."

Kurenai bristled. "Are you implying there's something wrong with me being his sensei?"

"Not at all. I just have three reasons for why this would be better. One, he knows and trusts me. He needs people he can genuinely trust around him to keep him from attacking people left and right. Two, if he does go off the rails, your genjutsu wouldn't do a thing to stop him. I have the ability to restrain him."

Asuma frowned. "You said three reasons. You only gave two. What about the third?"

Kakashi looked up from his book and shut his eyelids before somehow curving the corners down to effect what many referred to as his "eye smile." "That's for me to know and you to figure out."

Kurenai cracked her knuckles. "I hate that smile so much."

Kakashi gave it to her again. "I know!"

"Hold it Kurenai," the hokage chuckled. As amusing as the following beatdown might have been, he had other things to do than watch Kakashi hold off an angry female. "he does have a point. Naruto does need a familiar face of authority to lean on, and someone who can physically restrain him. I approve the change."

"There!" Kakashi chirped. "That wasn't hard, unlike _some_ things I could mention."

Thirty seconds later, the village was treated to the sight of a silver haired projectile flying from the hokage tower to land in the Forest of Death.

*break*

The man winced slightly, remembering the bruise on his face. Damn, that woman could hit hard. Well, Asuma was going to be on the receiving end of that. Not his problem!

Naruto's reaction, or lack thereof, was somewhat of a letdown. Oh well, now to stress them out by being two hours late in picking them up. They could wait. Obito and Sensei deserved to hear it from him.

*break*

Naruto was reaching the end of his patience by the time his erstwhile friend and mentor showed up for his team. The endless attempts by the pink haired girl Sakura, who he regarded as proof positive that Kami had a warped sense of humor, to get a date with Sasuke weren't helping matters. He could tell, even without looking, that the one thing Sasuke wanted most of all out of the pink-haired fangirl was for her to shut the hell up. So he was glad when Kakashi finally walked through the doorway. He was going to teach his sensei a lesson.

"Hey Cyclops," he called. Kakashi locked gazes with him and shivered.

"Yeah?"

"If you aren't on time from now on, I'm going to clone spam on you with paint tags all over the village."

Kakashi stepped back from the sheer _evil_. "Y-you wouldn't…"

Naruto grinned predatorily. "Wanna bet?" he replied as he held up a half-seal. Sasuke looked on in slight amusement while Sakura was outwardly horrified that Naruto was threatening their teacher.

Kakashi's head dropped. "Fine, I'll watch the clock. Now meet me on the roof." He disappeared before the new genin could say anything else.

When they reached the roof, Kakashi was already there waiting for them.

"Alright, let's introductions out of the way. First of all, I will be your sensei, obviously. I'm older, faster and better than you'll ever be, so I have the leadership role. Secondly I expect you to follow my instructions to the letter. Capisci?"

Silence, and then Naruto spoke up. "Blow it out of your ass, sensei. That's not how a team works!"

"Naruto!" Sakura hissed.

Kakashi eye-smiled. "Actually kiddies, he's right. That is NOT how a team works. Well, not a good one anyway. Everyone contributes, and everyone has a say in the team. That is what I expect you to remember at all times. What really determines leadership is experience. Now in most cases, I will still be the team commander because I have far more experience than any of you. That may change in the future depending on the situation but by and large I will be the one giving you orders. Your job is to acknowledge them and follow them in order to stay alive and complete missions successfully. Mainly, that is all that most genin end up doing."

Sasuke frowned. "So we're going to be gaining experience?"

"Exactly. You have the potential to become legends, but all legends have long years of experience before they reach that title. My job is to safely give you that experience and to help you become better shinobi however I can."

_Well,_Sasuke thought to himself. _At least he isn't going to hold me back, and Naruto will be a good measuring stick for my progress. I have to get strong enough to defeat Itachi-nii!_

"But enough of these deep thoughts, we have other things to look into. First step to being a team, learn each other's names so we know what to call each other. I'll go first. Kakashi Hatake. You can call me Sensei to my face, and any other names you can think of behind my back."

Sakura raised a hand. "Behind your back, sir?"

Kakashi eye smiled and patted her cheek while the two boys rolled their eyes. "You're cute when you're stupid."

"Hey!"

"Well thanks for volunteering to go next, Pinky."

"W-what?" Sakura sputtered.

"Name and preferred nicknames, Pinky"

Sakura's eyes flared, just as Kakashi expected. "My name is _Sakura_, not PINKY!"

"Oh well, why didn't you say so?"

If steam could come from a cerebral orifice, Sakura would be generating a continuous dense fog.

"Okay, you're next, dark and broody."

Sasuke bristled. "Sasuke Uchiha. No nicknames, please."

"Too late. And last but not least, _YOU._"

Naruto smirked slightly. "Hey, it's not _my_ fault that I have huge reserves!"

"You realize the mess you left behind your first time? I had to clean up the entire place!"

"You'll learn to enjoy it sensei."

"I do NOT like being dominated by a twelve-year old!"

Sakura's face turned green and Sasuke's right eye was twitching. "This is sounding more and more wrong by the second," she whispered as the blond and their sensei were arguing. "I do not want to know what they're talking about…" Sasuke agreed.

"Well YOU'RE the one who got Jiji to teach me Kage Bunshin!"

"I thought that you wouldn't have enough chakra to use it that way!"

Naruto grinned. "Poor poor sensei, how it must suck to be you!"

Kakashi hung his head while forming a half seal behind his back. A miniature rain cloud burst into existence over his head.

"Okay, sensei," Sakura and Sasuke were seriously creeped out. "are we done here?"

Naruto turned and grinned disturbingly wide. "Yep! I'd say sensei is done for today!"

"Leaving…" Sasuke swiftly stood up and stiffly walked away, blinking his eyes rapidly. Sakura followed, shivering. Behind them, Naruto and Kakashi smiled.

"We got them good, didn't we sensei?"

Kakashi ruffled Naruto's hair. "That's my student, already traumatizing his peers. Anyway," he said, becoming serious. "hokage-sama wanted to see you after this. They have something important to tell you."

*break*

It was a fascinating thing to watch, Sarutobi thought, how high the younger blonds eyebrows would go. Admittedly, what he was learning about himself from the senior mentalist was fairly incredible on first hearing. He hoped it wouldn't go to the young genin's head.

"So I can sense how people feel? That's my special ability?"

Inoichi sighed. "That's a simplified way of putting it, but yes."

"What's so good about that?"

Kakashi's eyes bugged out. "Are you kidding? You have an astonishing gift! This is something that no spy or infiltrator can bypass! No one can ambush you either! Not even the best chakra sensors can detect the emotions of their enemies!"

"The fact about that is," Inoichi cut in. "you've already been unconsciously using that aspect to survive on the streets. There is a downside though. You've been so exposed to the negative emotions of the villagers against you that you were overpowered by it. That's what caused your episode four years ago."

Naruto frowned. "That's the time that I don't remember anything, isn't it?"

Inoichi nodded. "That's not surprising. The mind usually blocks out detrimental experiences to prevent damage. You were overwhelmed with the hatred of the villagers around you. You lost yourself. But meditation can help control this. In time and with training, you should be able to handle powerful emotions without succumbing to their influence."

"Succumbing?"

"You won't have another episode," Kakashi clarified.

Naruto nodded while thinking about something else. "Does that mean that I really _don't_ hate those people?"

The Yamanaka shook his head. "No. A part of you does. It was just compounded by the external emotions you were feeling."

The old kage, the mind walker, and the cycloptic jonin watched as the young blond sighed in relief.

"Feels good to get that weight off your shoulders, huh?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, okay. But what about my chakra? I've never seen anyone else's chakra burn people, or do what I did to Mizuki."

Sarutobi leaned forward. "Our hypothesis on that subject is that your emotions are closely tied to everything about you. They determine you to a much greater degree than anyone else."

Inoichi picked it up. "You said it yourself Naruto, that just last night was the first time you felt like killing someone. Your chakra shroud caused Mizuki's skin to exhibit apoptosis. In simple terms, his skin cells exploded. Before that however, you simply caused burning. The difference in effects is generated by your emotional state. You hated people and wanted to cause them pain, so your chakra responded to your emotions. Your chakra is even more versatile than any other person in history, because it responds to your mind, and your mind is unlimited."

Naruto's eyes were growing huge. Kakashi felt the need to add caution.

"Don't get too hyped up though," he warned. "Your gift makes you more susceptible to psy-ops, mind games. If you form any connection to an enemy, your abilities might not work properly against them."

Inoichi picked it back up. "But your mind itself can also be a weapon. Look at me, I scramble the enemy mind in combat. I make them attack each other. I can demoralize an entire unit. Think of it this way: if you can be affected by the emotions of others, you can influence them as well. Your weakness can also be a weapon. I'll try and teach you what I know, but my abilities are fundamentally different from yours. For the most part, you'll be on your own."

Naruto rubbed his face. "This is a lot to take in…"

Sarutobi chuckled. "I understand how you feel. Now go home and get some rest."

The blond left, having been awake for nearly two full days. Inoichi grinned tiredly. "What a day…"

**And the last chapter was about the previous night! Howzabout that?**

**Review please!  
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	4. Chapter 4

**This is mainly to get to the next big part in the story. Most of it is humor, but with a little hint of Naruto using his abilities.**

Chapter Four

Well this was an interesting sight, the hokage mused. Tora the cat was _not_ actively trying to get away from the genin who stood across from him, though Sasuke and Sakura both had a number of scratches on their extremities. Naruto was glaring at him from over the quivering lump of fur in his arms. Not a good sign.

"Well," he began, breaking the ice. "I see you managed to bring back Tora in record time!"

Sasuke shot a dirty look at the cat, and then at Naruto. "Hopefully for the _last_ time…" he growled.

"Oh don't worry," Naruto slowly crooned, taking his eyes off the old man. "From now on, Tora will behave, or Tora will get another visit from Naruto, riiiight Tora?"

Everyone took a step back from the demented blond, noting that the cat seemed to perfectly understand Naruto's every word. It was shaking like a leaf in the wind, even more so when Naruto raised a hand and casually engulfed it in navy blue chakra.

Kakashi coughed to get his attention. "While traumatizing a demonic house pet has some entertainment value, especially one with immortality, I think you should stop, because the client is about to come through the door."

Sure enough, a boisterous obese woman burst into the office and made a beeline straight for Naruto.

"Oh Tora! I missed you! Come here! Mummy's going to take good care of you!"

Seeing the poor cat almost smothered in the woman's arms made Sakura feel kind of bad for the feline, and for Naruto doing…whatever he had done. As the door shut behind the daimyo's wife, a hand landed on her shoulder and a low cackling laugh made her jump.

"Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha, ve vill never see leetle Tora a-gain! Heh he he he he he he!"

The pinkette shrieked and turned around to face her blond teammate. "NARUTO! STOP THAT!"

Naruto grinned at her, and then turned a little more serious. "Now I feel kinda bad about scaring the cat…"

Sasuke snorted. "Being dangled in a cage over a cliff on a two-centimeter thick vine you were cutting through with a kunai is 'scaring' the cat? I'd hate to see what 'terrifying' would be."

The blond held up his fingers and began ticking things off. "Oh, that would involve threats of evisceration, electrocution, incineration, suffocation, a pervert with a hard-on for zoophilia…"

Sakura turned green, ran to the window and heaved into the window garden. Sarutobi simply raised an eyebrow. "I must have a word with Inoichi about what he is teaching you on the side-"

"Oh, I got that from Ibiki-" Naruto answered idly.

"-and Ibiki-"

"-and some crazy snake lady."

"-and Anko."

"Aww, do ya have to ruin my fun, Jiji?"

Iruka was horrified. "Hatake-san, who the hell introduced him to Mitarashi-san?"

Kakashi had long since pulled out his orange book. "I have no idea. Far as I'm concerned, what happens with Inoichi stays with Inoichi."

Sakura walked back in front of the desk and made for the door. "I-I think I n-need to lie down…"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you Sakura," Kakashi called, freezing the girl in place. "That would fall under dereliction of duty, and I would have to punish you. It might even involve Naruto doing something while you sleep-"

"Kakashi!" Iruka exclaimed while Sakura hyperventilated, turned white as a sheet, and fainted.

Naruto smirked. "Cracked like an egg."

Sasuke sighed. "Who has the smelling salts?"

*break*

Naruto's training with the mind walker had involved a great deal of headache-inducing exercises. With some unwitting volunteers (Naruto and Inoichi observed people in public areas, and a few non-public ones), the blond had a virtual encyclopedia of emotions to recognize. The Yamanaka clan head had impressed on him the importance of knowing them and being able to tell which one a person was experiencing. For some of the more negative emotions, he took the boy to the Interrogation Unit. After explaining to Ibiki and Anko why in hell he had dragged a kid into this most austere of institutions, he allowed Naruto to feel what the prisoners were experiencing. Most kids would have found it disturbing. Naruto…found it interesting. When Sarutobi would later give the Yamanaka a dressing down for his choice of teaching methods, he would admit to making the huge mistake of allowing the two most unstable characters in the village to meet up.

In his defense, Anko was one of the most forceful personalities. At the time, Naruto had just learned how to forge a mental link between himself and another person. When Anko asked what "the blond mind rapist" was teaching him, Naruto had blurted out his latest achievement and the woman promptly dragged the boy into the torture room and demanded a demonstration.

"What in the name of Kami is she doing?"

Ibiki had sighed. "I hope for your sake that boy has a strong stomach."

Naruto proceeded to, under the "guidance" of Orochimaru's only living student, overwhelm the unfortunate prisoner with terror before sending him into a whipsaw of emotions to disorient the man, and then finally stopping his machinations with a grin on his face. "Hey what do you know? Screwing with people is fun!"

Anko was giggling. "Ready to go again?"

Ibiki buried his face in his hands. "Dear Kami, there are two of them now."

Inoichi looked resigned as the prisoner screamed in an octave no man should be capable of reaching. "Hokage-sama is going to murder me…"

*break*

Sasuke rubbed his face. Did being off your rocker come with being powerful? He sure hoped not. One crazy Uchiha traitor was enough.

Meanwhile, after Sakura was revived and back on her feet shooting nervous looks at her blond teammate, Kakashi held out his hand for a mission scroll.

"Well team, time for another D-rank-"

"Oh come on!" Naruto exclaimed. "We've been doing D-ranks for a month! Can't we do a higher level mission?"

"I have to agree with short, blond and crazy," Sasuke muttered. "I'm sick of these boring missions."

"Sasuke! There's a reason for these-" Iruka was interrupted by Kakashi.

"You want a higher ranked mission? Okay."

Silence. "Just like that?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"Hey, none of you ever asked."

Two seconds later, Sasuke and Sakura found themselves holding back their blond teammate. "LEMME AT HIM! LEMME AT HIM!" Kakashi ignored them and plucked a C-rank scroll from the table, over Iruka's objections.

"Escort Mission to Nami no Kuni? Hmm, simple enough." He looked at the Sandaime. "Where's the client?"

The door opened and the man called Tazuna was greeted with the sight of a grey-and black camouflaged genin almost being strangled by his teammates while the team sensei looked on in bemusement.

"You're my escorts?"

*break*

Naruto was taking lead position with Kakashi in the middle next to Tazuna. The other two were perfectly happy to keep their distance in the back. Tazuna noticed the odd looks they gave the blond up front.

"What's with him?"

Kakashi didn't take his nose out of his book. "He's our lookout. He'll be the one to let us know who's in the area."

"Not that! Why are your other two kids scared of him?"

Kakashi cocked his head. "Well I don't know about being scared. Uptight, more like. They just don't appreciate good comedy."

The drunkard snorted. "Comedy?"

"Some of us have really shitty lives. We try to see the humor in it. Not our fault if others can't."

Sasuke and Sakura both snorted to themselves.

Up front, Naruto was doing his best to get ahold of himself. Against the elder mentalist's wishes, he had continuously immersed himself in powerful emotions for extended periods of time. Inoichi had disapproved saying that it was foolish and taxing on the mind. There was a reason that the emotional whipsaw Anko made him use was such an effective interrogative technique. It exhausted the mind. Naruto hadn't allowed himself a real break for the last fourteen hours. His outburst in the hokage's office had been the final indication that he needed to back off. A pity that the day was still fairly early. If it was late, he could take a much needed nap.

His exhaustion was the reason he didn't notice the negative emotions until they were within twenty feet. Immediately, he flared his emotions to Kakashi through a link. _Caution, up ahead._

Kakashi gave no indication that he had understood, nor did he give an order. Wondering if maybe he was imagining things, Naruto let it drop. He wasn't.

The moment they had passed an anomalously large puddle, two shinobi rose from it and swiftly wrapped a razor chain around Kakashi before pulling it taut, slicing the Jonin to pieces.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

Naruto had turned around to see it, but he noticed that Kakashi's emotional state was elsewhere, namely in a nearby tree. He smirked. From the feelings he was receiving from the link, Kakashi was expressing interest in his team, probably to see what they would do. Fine.

While moving to attack one of the two enemy shinobi from behind, he instantaneously formed a link with Sasuke and Sakura, much to his own surprise. It usually took him a few seconds. He sent a mental message for them to snap out of it and protect the client as he wreathed his hands in non-enhanced chakra and grabbed the center of the chain, digging his feet into the ground as he did so.

Sasuke was surprised to be overwhelmed by an emotion that was not his own urging him to attack, but he went with it, delivering a hard flying right knee to the rightmost enemy and following with smashing both hands together on the shinobis' helmet. The two-way head trauma was an instant knockout and the man collapsed.

Sakura in the meantime had thrown a smoke bomb at Tazuna's feet before grabbing the man and heaving him out of the cloud and out of the way. Naruto, seeing that one enemy was already incapped, reinforced his muscles with chakra and yanked hard, pulling the second enemy towards him. The man turned around in the air and aimed a claw on his right arm at the boy, but Kakashi appeared in mid-air to smash the man into the ground.

Tazuna shakily picked himself up. "W-what the hell was that?"

Kakashi snapped his fingers at Naruto as he restrained and lifted the enemy shinobi. "That's what we're about to find out. Sasuke, Sakura, keep over there with him."

Naruto approached the man, disengaging the other mental links and forming one with the prisoner. Running multiple connection ruined his concentration. "Hey," he began. "we can do this short, easy and painless, or long, hard and excruciating. Why were you attacking us? And please go for option 2," he smirked and coated his hand in navy-blue chakra. "It's so much more entertaining…"

*break*

Kakashi kept a concerned eye on Naruto, who appeared to be dead on his feet. The boy had loudly protested when the boat trip across the water had only taken fifteen minutes and he had been woken up from a nap. From what he remembered of Inoichi during the Third Great War, the mind arts were very draining in both chakra and mind. Naruto wasn't going to be running out of chakra any time soon, but his mind was exhausted. _Sorry Naruto,_ he thought, _but that's what you get for insisting we keep going to protect Tazuna_.

He couldn't blame the boy, or Sakura, or the Uchiha. In their place, he would have done the same thing. And he could understand perfectly why the drunk had tricked them. Oh well, they would be getting billed for an A-rank after they helped anyways.

Drained even from that little exertion earlier, Naruto couldn't sense a thing around him except for what was ludicrously close by. Kakashi had responded by taking the rear and putting Sakura and Naruto next to the drunk and Sasuke on point. Sasuke suddenly whipped a kunai at a bush, only to discover a shivering white rabbit. It was ten seconds before Naruto's mind made the leap of logic that Kakashi instantly took. _Wait a minute, that thing is white…rabbits don't have white fur this time of year…it's either a house pet…or-_

"Get down!"

At Kakashi's words, everyone dropped, avoiding the ridiculously oversized blade that embedded itself in a nearby tree, followed by the wielder two seconds later.

"An elite Jonin of Konoha guarding this old lush? Hmph, you must have had more money on you than I thought."

Kakashi appeared on the handle of the blade to his left, swinging a kunai that the newcomer ducked. The man retaliated by landing a split kick between the tree and Kakashi's ankle, grabbing the hilt as he did so and freeing it from the tree. As the silver haired jonin flipped, the other man slashed at him, only to harm a piece of timber as Kakashi reappeared twenty feet away.

"An elite Jonin of Kiri attacking this old lush? Heh, you must have sunk lower than I thought."

The man shouldered his sword. "Ah, you should know how it is. Hard to get a job when your village gives you the boot. Though on second thought," he cocked his head. "you _wouldn't_ know about that, would you, Sharingan Kakashi?"

Kakashi eye-smiled. "Nope, because I never turned traitor, Demon of the Bloody Mist Zabuza."

The newly-named Zabuza held up a half-seal. "Wouldn't expect you to understand, bleeding-heart Leaf shinobi…" And the man was obscured by white mist.

Sasuke whipped a kunai at the man, only to hear laughter echo all around the mist. "Really, kid? Do you seriously think I'm going to stay in one place when I put up the mist? Just don't bother. You're not going to find me."

Naruto straightened up and focused what was left of his mind on finding Zabuza. _A mass of dark emotions…to the left!_ The blond formed two kage bunshin and used them to throw himself into the air to the left. At the apex, he drew out two kunai and enveloped his arms and weapons in his chakra, before striking and hitting metal with a clang. Kakashi, who was already running towards them, could see the surprise in the eyes peering over the bandages wrapped around the man's mouth.

"How the hell-"

Zabuza fairly well ate the flying side kick that Kakashi landed on his ribs, shooting off and disappearing in the mist once again. After a moment, his voice echoed through. "Damn, I must be slowing down. How the hell does a kid figure out where I am in the mist?"

Naruto glowered, pointing in Zabuza's direction as Kakashi raced in the indicated area. "You can hide your chakra, your footsteps and your scent, but not your emotions!"

Sasuke and Sakura looked at each other in confusion. Emotions? What did that have to do with anything?

The sounds of a short scuffle could be heard through the fog. Following that, the mist jonin chuckled. "An empath, hm? Then it looks like I'll just have to kill you first!"

Kakashi's eye widened. _Shit! Naruto-!_

While Kakashi desperately searched for the blond in the fog, Naruto was already leaping and dodging the zanbatou user's flurry of attacks. He was unprepared, however, for Kakashi to suddenly pop up in front of him, blocking the slice, but sent backward, crashing into him and sending him to a painful landing twenty feet beyond.

"Oww…"_ Great, just fucking great. My head hurts so much I can barely see straight, I'm just about fucking blind in this damn fog right now, and I got a bandaged maniac with a big fucking sword coming for my head! Can this get any worse?_

Zabuza plucked out an exploding kunai and threw it at Kakashi. It missed the Cyclops and landed right in front of Naruto's face.

_Oh come on! _"FU-"

His verbal uttering was cut off by the explosion.

*break*

Sakura worriedly sat at the side of the tatami mat her blond teammate was lying on. After Naruto had eaten an explosive tag to the face, Kakashi had went medieval on the Swordsman of the Mist, culminating in overwhelming him with his own water jutsu. In the process however, the Cyclops pretty much abused his sharingan eye and so, after a mist hunter-nin had popped up to finish Zabuza, the three remaining _conscious_ people had to drag the man and the blond to Tazuna's home. Kakashi woke up surprisingly fast and directed Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, and Sakura in administering burn ointment and bandaging the blond. She furrowed her brow at that. Even if his face was burnt, she didn't think it proper to wrap over his mouth and eyes like a mummy. Kakashi had probably had them do that as a practical joke on the boy.

Her suspicions were strengthened when the boy began to move and frantically scrabbled at his face. "Mmfftmfmmm! Cttffmtffmmm!" ("What the fuck? Get this thing off me!")

Sakura held him down and yelled to get through the bandages. "HOLD STILL YOU IDIOT!" She then took a kunai and carefully sliced through the white strips. She nearly cut Naruto on the chin as he sat up and gasped for air.

"Damn it Sakura! Were you trying to kill me?"

"Kakashi-sensei told us to do it! You had a kunai blow up in your face! We had to bandage it!"

Naruto glared at his prone sensei, who eye-smiled. "Paybaaaack…" He pointed a finger.

"I will get you for that-OWW!" Frowning drew attention to his raw face and the pain from his forehead burns, which were healing at an accelerated rate, but not quite gone.

Kakashi felt the need to rub it in. "Hey, I said we should go back, but you three insisted on pushing forward. Anyway, you wanted a higher ranked mission, right?"

Naruto finished writhing in pain and snatched the wad of bandages to press on his face. "Fuck you sensei…" he growled through gritted teeth.

**Again, please read and review!  
><strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**Here I'm trying to flesh out Sasuke and bring him more in line with canon. But don't think that I'm going to be a canon-whore. I will throw in a few twists to the storyline.**

**Be prepared to see Sakura start improving.  
><strong>

Chapter Five

Sasuke frowned as he replayed the events of yesterday in his mind. He had been unable to pinpoint the man's location, but Naruto somehow was able to "follow his emotions," whatever the hell that meant. The blond had been able to actually _do_ something against him. _And I could only stand there like a retard._

Itachi would have flattened Zabuza, he knew. The mist wouldn't have impaired him at all, and the top-level ANBU put most of Konoha to shame in terms of combat ability. He overheard _jonin_ commenting how they would never want to fight the traitor. He, Sasuke, had placed all of his focus so far into obtaining top-notch combat skills, not sensory ones. But Naruto might be able to teach him, and he would be stronger for it.

Naruto was surprised to see the Uchiha walking toward his training area in the forest around the house.

"Naruto, how could you tell where that guy was?"

"Who? Zabuza?" Sasuke nodded. The blond scratched at his neck. "I could follow him by locating his emotions."

"Can you teach me how?" Naruto's jaw dropped. The Last Uchiha wanted his help learning something?

"Ah, I can't. According to Jiji, I'm the only person who can do it."

Unbidden, the Uchiha felt a bit jealous and angry. "Why's that?"

Now Naruto looked really uncomfortable. "I'm not sure if I can tell you that. I'll need to talk with sensei."

Sasuke frowned again. He _could_ try to press more, but he had a feeling that would only alienate the blond. But what was the harm? They would be spending a lot longer than a month. He could wait a little. Besides, surely there were other ways to learn Naruto's strange ability.

*break*

The silver-haired jonin had never eaten so fast in his life, but chakra exhaustion made him extremely hungry. Tsunami was amused to find that in the twelve or so seconds that she left him to get him a cup of water, he had downed his bowl of rice and sashimi.

"Is my cooking that tasty?"

Kakashi waved his chopsticks near his head as he accepted a second bowl. "When you're low on chakra, you get a huge appetite and you care less about the taste. No offense ma'am."

The woman smiled. "I've said similar things to Inari when he complains about dinner."

Naruto entered the room, little more than winded. The jonin cocked his visible eyebrow. Amazing what a few hours of sleep could do for his student.

"Kakashi-sensei, can we talk?"

Kakashi somehow managed to convey an apologetic request nonverbally to Tsunami in spite of the mask covering the lower half of his face. The woman nodded and left, closing the door behind her.

He turned to face his student, who sat on a cushion across from him. "What is it?"

Naruto fidgeted. "Sasuke wants to learn to do what I did to sense Zabuza. What do I tell him?"

The jonin cocked his head. "First, what made you decide not to tell him anything?"

The blond looked down at the floor. "The Kyuubi."

"Well, at least you've shown discretion. Information about your condition isn't something to be dealt out freely. But he is your teammate. He's trusting you to watch his back. Shouldn't you do the same?"

"It's not just that," Naruto grumbled. "I didn't like how Sasuke was looking at me when I told him he couldn't learn it. He was jealous, and not in a good way."

The jonin sighed. "Naruto, what do you know of the Uchiha Clan Massacre?"

"Just that Sasuke is the only one left. I wasn't paying attention when it happened. I was more busy training."

"Sasuke was left alive by his brother Itachi. His brother betrayed their clan and killed everyone. The way I hear it, Itachi challenged him to find him and kill him, if he can. Sasuke took it personally. He wants to become stronger so he can kill his brother."

"So what does that have to do with being jealous of me?"

"You are better than he is in one area, and he feels that he needs to know how to become better so he can become stronger than Itachi."

"Yeah well, I'm the only one who can sense emotions, but how do I tell him that without having him snap on me for not helping him?"

"You think your teammate would do that?"

"He wasn't just jealous, he was _mad_ at me!"

"Well what would you like me to do Naruto?"

"Maybe you could tell him about it?"

"You really want that? It shows that you don't completely trust your teammates."

Naruto nodded. "He might take it easier if you tell him something."

Kakashi sighed. "Well the easiest way to explain it would be to say you have a bloodline. He should be aware of the fact that bloodline techniques can rarely be taught. Say we call it Jouton (Emotion Release), okay?"

Naruto was too relieved to care what it was called. "Sure, thanks sensei!"

Kakashi was soon alone with his thoughts. _Naruto is in a much better position to judge Sasuke based on his emotions than I am. Could he be right about him? Would Sasuke snap at him? Damn, why couldn't things stay simple?_

*break*

"So what did sensei think?" Sasuke asked the blond.

"Here's how it is, Sasuke," Kakashi answered. "Naruto has a bloodline called Jouton. He's the only one who has it in the village. His ability to figure out where Zabuza was is related to that. Naruto wasn't sure he should tell you because the hokage told him to keep quiet about it."

The Uchiha frowned. Damn. Looked like learning it was out of the question. "Then how else would we go looking for someone like him if they use the mist technique or something like that?"

Kakashi shrugged. "You don't have to worry about him because he's d-wait a minute…"

The three genin looked up. Uncertainty in their teacher, not a good sign. The cyclops muttered to himself for about twenty seconds before pounding his fist on his right hand.

"Damn it, Zabuza isn't dead."

"How?" Sakura wondered. "The hunter-nin took care of him, didn't he?"

The jonin shook his head. "Don't you think it was odd that he used senbon to take him down? There is a spot near the neck, and I am trying to remember if that's where the needle was. That spot, if hit properly, puts the victim into a near-death state. If he hit that, the hunter-nin was trying to save his life and fooled us letting them go."

Sasuke wasn't so sure. "He could have just moved the body somewhere else before disposing of it."

"No. That's not how Kiri hunters operate. They're trained to dispose of the body where it falls. That hunter-nin was a fake. Damn, I must have really been out of it."

Naruto was trying to connect the dots. "So the bandage freak is still out there? And he's got backup?"

"Yes."

"Say what?" Tazuna had walked in just in time to hear Naruto talk. "That bastard with the big sword is still out there?"

Kakashi sighed. "Well, it's not all bad. After the near-death state, it takes about a week for the victim to recover. We have six days until we could potentially see Zabuza again. It's enough time to get some more training in. Tomorrow, I'll start you three on chakra control exercises. You'll need them."

*break*

"You failed you pathetic demon!" A short ruthless businessman yelled at the partially paralyzed swordsman while his partner stood to the side. "How hard can it be to kill one damned drunk?"

Zabuza chuckled. "Pretty hard when his bodyguard is one of Konoha's battlefield legends, and some genin brats, Gato."

"I pay you to get results! This is not what-"

The pudgy man found himself nose to tip with the massive iron blade, effortlessly wielded by Zabuza's right arm. "Don't tell me how to do my fucking job. You still got time before that stupid bridge is finished. Before they're done, that old lush will be dead and you'll have your damned results."

Gato raised his cane and pointed it at the Kiri legend. "That better happen or I'll-AGH!"

The fake hunter-nin was holding his arm in a crushing grip. "You will not threaten Zabuza-sama," he said as he released the arm.

"YOU'LL REGRET THIS!" The man yelled as he left with his two guards.

"You didn't have to do that Haku," Zabuza chided his partner. "I could have handled him myself."

"I didn't want you to strain yourself unnecessarily."

"Eh. Now if only my neck would stop hurting…"

*break*

Kakashi stood by a large tree, twirling a kunai. "Today, boys and girl, we will be learning to climb trees with just chakra. You focus chakra at your feet and use it to stay attached to the tree. Observe." And he lazily walked up the side of the tree and stood on the underside of a thick branch. "Don't try and do what I'm doing right now. I don't want to deal with head injuries messing you up."

Sakura snorted. "Too late for Naruto, isn't it?"

"Hey! I'm unique by birth and eccentric by choice!"

"Could have fooled us," Sasuke smirked.

"What are you waiting for? Try it," the silver-haired man ordered as he dropped and landed gracefully in front of his students.

Naruto waited until Sasuke and Sakura had already attempted a few times before coughing loudly and walking up the tree and hanging upside down from the same branch their sensei had. "Um, the Hyuuga retainer I lived with taught me to do this."

Kakashi raised a brow. "Well… he did a good job. Okay, tree walking will be a waste of time for you. Get down here and meditate."

Naruto waited until he was passing Kakashi to mutter "The guy made me learn it so I could hang out of reach of the village."

Once again, the jonin was reminded of how his student was looked on by the village. It was enough to prevent him from being amused by the pinkette and the Uchiha's repeated failed attempts to scale the tree.

*break*

The next day, Sakura was practicing katas while Naruto sat in the lotus position for hours. What in the hell was so important that he felt the need to sit still for so long? Did it have something to do with controlling emotions?

Eventually, the blond got up and began his own katas, relentlessly pummeling a tree. Looking at him, Sakura realized just how refined his movements were, compared to her sloppiness. She sorely remembered how she hadn't been able to do a thing when Zabuza appeared. Her strength was book smarts, and she was now seeing how much she had neglected combat skills.

"Um, Naruto? Could you help me?"

Naruto stopped and turned, wiping sweat from his head. "What do you need?"

Sakura was embarrassed. "W-well, I kind of…suck…at hand to hand. Could you give me a few pointers?"

She clearly heard him mutter "About damn time." "About time what?"

"About time you stopped being a stupid fangirl and started being a kunoichi."

"W-what?"

"You've been bugging Sasuke instead of doing something that might actually get his attention all this time. You're holding down the team. Three of us can actually fight. You're pretty much the dead weight."

Sakura's face turned red in anger. "I'm not!"

Naruto snorted. "Really? Cause you haven't really done anything to help the team."

"I saved the client from that other guy!"

"You only did that because I made you do it."

That stopped her cold. "What? What do you mean you made me do it?"

The blond sighed. "Remember a sense of urgency when the creepy twins attacked us? That was me. I made a link to your mind and sent you that message so that you wouldn't freeze up and get the old man killed."

"You made a link to my mind?"

"It's a little complicated. All you need to know right now is that I made you move Tazuna out of the way because you froze up. Face it, you haven't done shit. It's time that changed, because if you keep it up, someone on the team is going to get killed."

The pinkette hung her head. Her teammate was right. She had frozen up, and she was a danger to the team.

"You're willing to change though. That's something. Now watch. Here's how you should be moving…"

Naruto was a surprisingly good instructor. In the practice spars that followed, she noticed that she was able to execute moves faster and cleaner than before. It was a good improvement. But a thought struck her as they walked back to the house.

"You said you lived with a Hyuuga, and that he's the one who taught you. I thought the Hyuuga only knew their family styles."

"You know what a retainer is?"

"A bodyguard?"

"More than that. The guy I lived with told me that historically, retainers are the most trusted family vassals, and the ones who handled sensitive assignments like political assassination."

"Assassination? You lived with an assassin?"

Naruto smirked. "Hey, we're assassins in training, aren't we? What's so bad about it? Anyway, for something like that, the Hyuuga combat style of Jyuuken would be too recognizable to use. A common hand-to-hand style wouldn't give away who wanted someone dead. He knew the basic style because he had to. It's a requirement for a retainer."

"Oh," Sakura managed, feeling stupid.

"Sensei is right, you are cute when you're stupid."

"NARUTO!"

*break*

Dinner had been ruined when Tsunami's son came downstairs, glaring at everyone who was acting like there was nothing wrong with the world. After mouthing off about how pointless things were and how they were going to be killed by the businessman Gato, Naruto snapped at him.

"Oh wow! A fucking businessman! I'm shitting myself right now! Get real, kid! Dark and broody over here would just set him on fire, I could rip him into little pieces with my bare hands, and our sensei's got a kill count in the hundreds."

"Gato's got an army! You don't stand a chance! They'll rip you apart!"

Naruto made a show of trying to remember something as he looked at Kakashi. "Haven't you heard that sort of thing before?"

"It got old the first few dozen times."

"My dad tried to stand up for us and Gato just had him killed, just like he's going to do to you guys!"

Naruto slammed a fist on the table and glared at Inari. "Kid, cry me a river, build a bridge, and _get the fuck over it!_ I'm getting sick of your 'woe is me' spiel. Go. AWAY." To drive home the point, he quickly made a link to the boy's mind and blasted his irritation over it, overwhelming Inari's self-preservation instincts and sending him flying back up the stairs in fear. What he didn't realize was that everyone at the table could feel it. It took a moment before anyone felt comfortable speaking again.

"That was kind of harsh, Naruto."

Tsunami shook her head. "It's alright," she assured Sakura. "Inari has been feeling like that ever since Kaiza was killed. I've tried to tell him that his father wouldn't want him to be that way, but he's just focused on his loss and can't move on."

Naruto growled and stood up. "Spoiled little brat. At least he _has_ a family…"

"Where are you going?" Kakashi asked.

"Outside to punch something." The atmosphere was now even more uncomfortable.

"Family is a touchy subject for him?" Tsunami asked.

The jonin shrugged. "You might say that."

Naruto lay outside in the forest, fuming silently. That little prick thought he had a bad life? He had no reason to bitch. At least the kid had a family. He hadn't. Ah hell, now he needed sleep to forget about that little bastard.

*break*

The blond woke the next morning to the sight of an effeminate boy leaning over him.

"You should be careful out here. You'll catch a cold."

Naruto waved him off and took stock of the boy's emotions. Finding no ill will, he got up to head back to the house. "Never happened to me, and I've slept in a lot of worse places. Thanks for the concern though."

Haku watched as the grey-and-black clothed genin walked away, careful to keep his mind in a positive manner. He had considered taking the boy out, but it just wasn't in his nature to assassinate someone.

"I hope this can end without unnecessary bloodshed…"

**I'm really surprised about yesterday. Over 1300 hits in one day, and this story just barely started four days ago. Thank you all!  
>And please give me some more reviews!<br>**


	6. Chapter 6

**Well, this is it. This is the first big fight! Naruto showcases his first jutsu, and the two jonin tango on the bridge. Enjoy!  
><strong>

Chapter Six

Zabuza limped around the hideout, working furiously to get feeling all the way back in his limbs. He swore Haku must have enjoyed doing shit like that, probably a bit of revenge for getting dragged into all sorts of dangerous situations. He grunted. It wasn't entirely his fault. No, it was that damned-by-kami _fuck_ who hypnotized Yagura into declaring him a traitor. He growled to himself as he remembered his mistake. _I don't know who you are, but you're going to pay. I'm going to upstage Kiri and hunt you down for this…_

Haku watched silently, knowing better than to pop in on his master when the man was in one of his moods. He never found out why the swordsman, whom so many of his enemies feared and respected as a legend of his village, had turned against Kiri. It was certain that he didn't turn traitor on his own though. _And Zabuza-sama disobeyed an order to save my life and take me with him. If there's anything I can do for him, I will._ Well, almost anything. He wasn't keen on backstabbing anyone who wasn't a lethal threat, and Zabuza seemed to be well aware of that as he never made him perform an assassination. _But if that's what it takes to protect Zabuza-sama, so be it._

He then turned his thoughts to the boy he met yesterday. The Demon of the Mist had impressed on him the importance of presenting his emotions in such a way as to be harmless. Any form of stealth was impossible. That damnable empath rendered even Zabuza's fighting style completely useless. Still, it seemed to be one of the genin's few techniques. In the short exchange between him and his master, the boy hadn't been able to attack at all without the initiative. The teammates were more likely to be a threat.

In the events that followed, Haku would unfairly berate himself for being so wrong about that assessment.

*break*

Kakashi was feeling very uneasy about today. It was the end of his predicted time that Zabuza would be down and out. As a result, he had set out with Sasuke and Sakura in tow to keep an eye on both to the site, he whistled. This was _some_ piece of work.

"That old drunk built this?" Sasuke wondered incredulously. It was mind-boggling to him how a near-perpetually inebriated old geezer could make a concrete structure of this quality with the hardships being tossed his way.

The jonin smiled behind his mask. "Something for you two to keep in mind: people who live to a ripe old age are probably damned good at what they do. Take hokage-sama for instance. He may be old enough to be a great-grandfather, but he probably could still kick my ass five times to Sunday."

Sakura shook her head. "Why would anyone want to destroy this? It's beautiful!"

Tazuna walked by her lugging a cart of tools. "Some people don't give two shits about the average person, or what the average person makes, kid. Worried, Cyclops?"

Sasuke snorted. "No, he's just felt like dragging us here personally for a tour. Yeah, he is, and so are we. According to sensei, that Zabuza guy should be back on his feet and coming for another round."

"It sure looked like he was dead. In my experience, you don't come back from a neck injury."

"In my experience, civilian incidents rarely involve senbon needles as weapons," Kakashi warned. "I was part of the Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushi Butai. Pressure points were among the things that every ANBU shinobi was expected to know. It is common knowledge among the elite soldiers of the Great Five, and Zabuza was more than just ANBU. He was one of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen of the Mist, part of its strongest generation. We can't underestimate someone like him."

"You say so," Tazuna said dubiously before turning back to his work. "I still think you're being paranoid."

There was a sudden loud explosion at the far end, followed by the panicked screams of the workers running away. Sasuke sighed and gestured at the incoming fog bank. "You were saying?"

*break*

Naruto was pacing back and forth, muttering to himself while thumbing through a thesaurus.

"Mind break? Nah, that's not original. Mind crush? Not terrifying at all. Mind rape? Hell no. I'm not going to be some sicko. Damn, it's hard to find a good name for a new jutsu…"

"Aren't you supposed to be watching us?" Inari muttered.

"I'm here with you and your mom, aren't I?"

"You're not even paying attention!"

"Inari-" Tsunami said warningly.

"You two are right in front of my face, in the same room, in the same house. I can multitask, thank you very much. I'm not worried about you as much as I am worried about what might be coming from outside."

"Why's that? If anyone's going to get hurt, it'll just be grampa because of his stupid bridge!"

"Inari!"

Naruto raised his nose from the book. "Ever heard of hostages, kid? Someone like Gato might go after you two for insurance. I told you already, we aren't going to be killed by some fat midget in a business suit, or his two-bit flunkies."

"What about that big scary guy you people were talking about, huh?"

"Sensei can take him. I'm just here to make sure that other people don't come after you."

"You're being stupid! There's no way Gato would care about us! He just wants grampa dead!"

Naruto cocked his head to the side for a moment, and then snapped his fingers. Two clones of the boy came in, dragging two terrified and restrained samurai thugs. "You were saying?"

*break*

The Last Uchiha was starting to really get pissed off at his opponent. The damn boy was so fucking fast, flying around this dome of ice mirrors like a maniac and sending a hail of needles at him every time he even thought of trying to move.

Zabuza had called in his partner within seconds of locking blades with Kakashi. The boy had immediately went for him to "keep him out of the way." That was infuriating. He was an Uchiha! He wasn't some bit of trash to be swept aside. The only good thing was that at least Sakura was left to keep the old man safe, though she wouldn't really be an obstacle if either opponent went for the target.

_Damn it, if Naruto was here, sensei would have finished off Zabuza by now and I'd get some decent help in beating this guy!_

Zabuza threw a left horizontal slice that Kakashi ducked, spinning while holding a kunai in an icepick grip in his right hand. His attempt at a rotating backstab was blocked by the zanbatou, held one-handed flat against the Mist jonin's back. The man kicked backward with his left foot, striking the tip of the blade while twisting the hilt in his right hand, almost catching Kakashi in the nose with the edge. He continued the motion to perform a lunging uppercut swing. The tip of his blade swept through a puddle of water left behind from one of Haku's earlier attacks, sending up a spray of water at his adversary. He took advantage by using his left hand to send a moderate electric pulse into it. "Raiton: Denka Myaku (Lighting release: Charge Pulse)!"

The cloud of droplets exploded as the electrical discharge was conducted through them, but what remained was only a scorched log. Kakashi reappeared behind him, charging with a kunai held standard grip in his right hand, in a lunge. Zabuza rotated left to meet the charge, bringing his blade about for an awkward horizontal cutter in an attempt to decapitate the silver-haired jonin. Kakashi was forced to swerve right and duck low, but he swung with his left hand, which held a kunai in the reverse grip, grazing Zabuza's hip. He stopped and turned to face his opponent while Zabuza brought the greatsword over his head and attempted a diagonal hip to shoulder slice, which Kakashi parried with his left kunai. The Demon of the Bloody mist eyed the simple kunai, which was buzzing with lightning chakra from the cyclops' single hand. To parry one of the legendary blades of Mist with that…

"Oh you're good," he admitted.

"I know," Kakashi eye-smiled while forming a half-seal with his right hand. "I learned how to do that from Ringo-san." And the kunai from his right hand that had been lost when he ducked, now laying at Zabuza's feet, exploded. Both men were revealed to be water clones. The real Zabuza emerged unharmed from the puddle he had swung through earlier.

"You fought Ameyuri and lived? I'm impressed. He never mentioned anyone surviving his Fangs."

Kakashi simply tapped his hitai-ate where his gift from Obito was.

"You wiped his memory, didn't you?"

"I already have one person calling me his eternal rival. I didn't want another. The one I already have runs around dressed in green spandex."

Zabuza grimaced. "I could have gone the rest of my life without knowing that."

The Konoha jonin eye-smiled again. "I know!"

"Okay," The mist jonin formed a hand seal. "you really need to stop doing that, it's creepy. Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu (Water release: Great Waterfall technique)!"

With a roar, the water under the bridge swelled over it before pummeling the area the two were standing on.

Meanwhile, Naruto had finally arrived at the bridge. Immediately, he noticed a familiar presence. _Hey isn't that…that's the guy who woke me up yesterday! What the hell? Why didn't I sense he was an enemy?_ Without listening to Sakura's shouted warning about the mirror dome, he burst inside to find Sasuke riddled with senbon.

"Damn, at least Sakura can't see you now."

Sasuke struggled to rise. "Go fuck yourself. This guy is really fast. I haven't been able to get a hit on him, and those mirrors just don't melt! They took a Grand Fireball without a scratch!"

Naruto turned to look up at the mirrors, sensing exactly which one Haku was merged with. "I thought you were a little off when I first saw you. You're the bandaged wonder's partner, right?"

"Zabuza is my master, and he ordered me to take you out if you appeared. I'm sorry for this, shinobi-san."

Before Naruto could blink, Haku had already fired off sixteen needles at him, two of which pierced his neck.

"OW! FUCK!" Defying what he was trained to expect, Haku was instead treated to the sight of Naruto yanking those two out. "I'm really getting sick of having things thrown at me! I realize it's an occupational hazard for shinobi, but can't I get a fucking break?"

Shaking off his reverie, Haku sent another barrage, but Naruto simply flared his chakra cloak, which was tinged red due to his anger. "I am not a damn pincushion! Take this!"

A second flare up, more powerful than the first, ejected the senbon in his body at the dome with astonishing force. Haku was floored as his mirrors cracked from the impacts, before exploding from Naruto's chakra. Things were now looking against him. That dome had been intensely draining on his chakra. He didn't have the reserves to attempt it again. As he landed, he began making seals for another jutsu, but Naruto beat him to it.

"Aha! Now I know a good name for this! Jouton: Seshini Yuudou, Osore (Emotion release: Mind Induction, Fear)!"

Abruptly, Haku was suddenly gripped with paralyzing terror. It was the sort he experienced in his nightmares, where he failed Zabuza-sama horribly and they both died, where he was cut down screaming in fear by the mob that killed his mother.

"N-no…"

Images flashed before his eyes: his father's warped hatred, Zabuza being disappointed, Zabuza dead at his feet. As a bewildered Sasuke and Sakura looked on, Haku dropped to his knees, grabbed his head, and screamed.

"AAAAAUGH!"

*break*

Inari was at the head of a group of armed Nami no Kuni residents making their way toward the bridge when they heard a bone-chilling scream.

"They're in trouble!" one shouted.

"We need to get there fast!"

Inari lead the race while replaying the last words Naruto told him before taking off for the bridge.

"_Being a hero is about being in the right place at the right time. Your dad was a hero for your village. He was in the right place at the right time to get your country to try and fight back. Gato was afraid of him. That fat bastard was AFRAID of your dad! And he's afraid of your grampa too. The bad guys are always afraid that someone will be in the right place at the right time to stop them. Think about that."_

_I'll be a hero, I'll be in the right place at the right time to help someone kill that bastard! Maybe it'll be you, Naruto…_

*break*

Zabuza and Kakashi turned toward the noise.

"What the hell? Haku?"

Kakashi furrowed his brow. "It looks like Naruto used his new jutsu."

The Demon of the Bloody Mist glared at him. "What the hell is that?"

The cyclops lifted his hitai-ate. "Something no shinobi can defend against."

Naruto frowned as he watched the fake hunter-nin. Haku was now sobbing on the ground. "Z-Zabuza-sama…I-I failed y-you…"

Kami, just watching the effects of his jutsu made him feel like a bad person. It was obvious that the boy cared a lot for the Mist shinobi. This was torture. He didn't even think he'd use this on a villager from Konoha, and that was saying something.

"Naruto, stop it!" Sakura was covering her ears. "What are you doing to him?"

Happy to oblige, he stopped feeding chakra to the link and walked over to the boy. "Relax, Zabuza's fine! Just don't try anything now or I'll have to kill you."

Haku shrank away from him. "N-no! Go away! Please!"

Zabuza suddenly appeared in front of Naruto, pointing his blade with a murderous spark in his eyes. "What. Did. You. DO?"

Kakashi materialized behind him holding a kunai to his neck. "Nothing permanent, now stand down."

"Well, you seem to be having a bit of trouble, Demon!"

Everyone's eyes turned toward the source of the voice. "Gato," Zabuza growled. "What the hell are you doing here?"

The businessman smirked from behind his army of thugs. "I got tired of waiting for you to do your job, and grabbed my best men. I don't need shinobi to kill that old drunk, especially failures like you and your thrice-damned partner."

Zabuza's eyes narrowed dangerously while Kakashi stepped away from the angry former-opponent. "You weren't planning to pay us at all."

Gato laughed. "Of course not! You're nuke-nin! I could just let the Mizukage know where you were! Your old village would pay ME for helping them to find their traitors! Either way, the old lush dies today, and I get what I want!"

Naruto was steadily getting more and more enraged, but only Sasuke noticed. He was stepping back.

"And as a bonus, I get Kakashi of Konoha's head and the Last Uchiha! Things can't get any better!"

Zabuza was about to lunge when a deep guttural voice reverberated across the gap while an enormous killing intent froze everyone on the bridge.

"**Good,**" Naruto growled as his eyes turned scarlet. "**because things are about to get a lot worse! Jouton: Shuudan Seshini Yuudou, Osore** (Emotion release: Mass Mind Induction, Fear)**!**"

Unconsciously drawing on the Kyuubi's chakra in his rage, Naruto made his jutsu far more damaging. By linking minds, he provided a direct conduit for demonic chakra to flow into the minds of the thugs, poisoning them irreversibly. In addition, the effects of his jutsu were also incorporated into the corruption. The criminals dropped as one, screaming in terror at things only they could see. From that day forward, those who survived would be forever housed in a mental institution, locked in endless fear.

Ignoring the terrified flunkies, Naruto stalked toward the now petrified businessman, hands lengthened into claws, chakra swirling around him and burning even the concrete he walked on. Several times, he flicked his hand out and slashed out eyes, throats and jaws on the incapacitated criminals he walked by without once looking at them.

"W-wait! What d-do you want? I can give you anything! ANYTHING!"

Sakura looked on in horror at her teammate's merciless actions. "Sensei! Stop him!"

Kakashi shook his head. "You don't get in the way when Naruto gets like this unless you want to die."

Zabuza didn't remove his gaze from the genin. "What in the name of Kami are you tree-huggers teaching kids these days?"

Sasuke stared at the blond. _He's this strong? HOW? How in the world did he get this power? Even Sensei is afraid of him!_

Gato was now on his back, holding his hands up in a futile attempt to ward off the homicidal genin. "No! Please don't kill me!"

Naruto hoisted him up by the collar with his left hand. "**Hmm, let me think about that…no.**" And he slashed with his right hand, filleting the man's chest and exposing his ribs. "**Scum**" he severed a leg while ignoring the howls of agony. "**like you**" He snapped the other leg by bending it the wrong way. "**don't**" Using pure force, he ripped Gato's left arm off, tearing ligaments and cartilage. "**deserve**" He effortlessly broke the radius, ulna, and humerus of the right arm. "**to live.**" As the coup de grace, he grabbed the sole remaining limb and used it as a flail to slam Gato's still living body against the concrete floor of the bridge several times before flinging him over the side to drown.

Silence greeted the splash, and then Sakura ran to the rail and emptied the contents of her stomach. Sasuke was also feeling slightly nauseous. Zabuza and Kakashi were warily eyeing the genin while Haku clung to the mist shinobi's leg like a lost puppy, tears still fresh on his unmasked face. Naruto turned around and dropped the aura before pointing. "Man am I glad Inari didn't see that."

Everyone turned to see Inari with a pack of villagers at the other end of the bridge.

*break*

In the aftermath, Kakashi and Tazuna hurriedly explained that Zabuza and Haku had been backstabbed by the now dead criminal, and that they had no further quarrel. With spirits high, Nami no Kuni celebrated the downfall of a tyrant and the beginning of new times for the country. Naruto was fending off Inari all night while Sasuke and Sakura were looking to forget how messily their teammate executed the businessman. Kakashi, Zabuza and Haku sat on top of city hall with two bottles of sake.

"You know," Kakashi commented as the two jonin watched the party while Haku hung on to the Mist shinobi's arm. "it's been a while since I helped to save a country. Makes me remember the old days, then it makes me want to drink more so I don't have to remember them."

The Demon of the Mist chuckled. "I know the feeling. You see your teammates get pulverized all the damn time when you try and sleep. You don't need that when you're awake and sober."

"A lot of memories we have, we just want to forget. Then when we forget, we want to remember."

"You got that right."

Silence reigned for a few minutes, then…

"You know, you said earlier that I wouldn't understand why you turned traitor. What's the story?"

Zabuza let out a world-weary sigh. "You know the Yondaime Mizukage? Yagura?"

"Not personally, but I know him by reputation. He started the bloodline purges, right?"

"Yeah. A few weeks into that, I got suspicious. He'd never had a problem with bloodline users before. I started snooping around his place, using my status as a village hero and as an ANBU. I happened to see some weird guy facing him in his private quarters. A few seconds later, they both saw me, but Yagura wasn't acting like he was supposed to. His eyes looked weird, like he'd been hypnotized."

"And what did the other person look like?"

"Don't know. Never saw his face. I was more busy getting the fuck out. I saw something I wasn't supposed to, and that weird fuck had me declared a traitor. I ran. I didn't have a choice then." Zabuza laughed bitterly and took another swig. "My commander-in-chief was being warped in the head by some bastard from I-don't-know-where and all I could do was leave him there. Some village hero I turned out to be…"

Kakashi furrowed his brow. "You said his eyes were off."

"Yep, some weird pattern in them

"Did the other person happen to have any distinguishing symbol on them?"

Zabuza leaned back. "Now that I think about it, yeah. He had some weird mushroom symbol on his back. White on the stem and white where the underside of a mushroom would be, with red on the top."

Kakashi sucked in a breath. "The Uchiha crest…" he hissed.

"Say what?"

The Konoha jonin stared straight ahead. "Zabuza, you hear about the attack of the Kyuubi twelve years ago?"

"Yeah, who hasn't?"

"Listen, that symbol you saw is the mark of the Uchiha clan. After the Kyuubi attack, there were rumors of the Uchiha getting involved. Part of it was because of one of the founding Uchiha, Madara Uchiha, having the power to control bijuu. Part of it was because early on, some witnesses thought they saw a sharingan pattern in its' eyes. I need to know if you saw a sharingan pattern in Yagura's eyes."

Zabuza thought back trying to remember. "…I think it might have been, but I can't remember exactly. I'm pretty sure I'd know if I saw it."

Kakashi stared into his bottle. "An Uchiha controlling Mist and rumors about the clan and the Kyuubi…What the hell is going on?"

"Hey, if that's what it is, maybe we can help each other."

"What?"

"This job was just about getting enough money to fund a rebellion against Yagura. I'm just trying to put Mist back in good hands and from the sound of it, your village wants to know who fucked them over. We might have a common interest. If I help you, maybe Konoha could help me bring back Kirigakure."

Kakashi snorted and took a long pull from the bottle. "I'll need to talk to the hokage. That's above my pay grade."

**Man, now that I finished this part, even I feel bad about what I did to Haku, and I'm the fucking AUTHOR!**

**Think what Naruto did was nasty? Read it over while studying biology, look at the anatomical diagrams, and imagine that sort of thing happening to you. Kinda gives you a chill...  
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**Read and Review!  
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	7. Chapter 7

**Here, you'll find out more about the background plot.  
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Chapter Seven

The hokage set down the report, rubbed his forehead, and looked at the six people standing across from him. He directed his words at Kakashi.

"A C-rank, a simple C-rank, and you got it turned into this fiasco? A-rank threats? Gato shipping corporation? Zabuza Momochi, his partner and a diplomatic nightmare involving Kirigakure?"

The jonin coughed. "I told my team we should have turned around. I didn't _ask_ for the extra complications."

Sarutobi sighed. "Of course not. I'm beginning to question the wisdom in allowing you to rejoin the regular forces. Since you resigned from ANBU, I've been dealing with one headache after another."

"Um, sorry?"

The old man shook his head. "Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, you are dismissed." After the three genin left, he eyed Zabuza carefully. "I read Kakashi's report, but I want to hear it from you."

The mist jonin snorted. "Not much else to tell. A few weeks after the Yondaime Mizukage started the bloodline purges, I was snooping around and I got caught by Yagura with some weird eye pattern and some other guy with the Uchiha crest on his back. I didn't see much else after that because I was trying to get the hell out of there. That other guy had Yagura declare me a traitor, saying that I tried for a coup d'état. I got out and I've been taking random jobs to try and finance a revolt to get back at the bastard."

The Sandaime laced his fingers together and rested his chin on his thumbs. "Before he died, Minato-my late successor-said that he had fought an Uchiha before he arrived to banish the Kyuubi."

Kakashi's eye widened. "What? Are you serious?"

"Quite. I did not reveal this in the aftermath because the Uchiha clan was already unfairly under stress and suspicion. Their dedication to the safety of Konoha is well documented. For Minato's words to hold true is to imply that the perpetrator was a rogue Uchiha. Of the possibilities at large, the most likely person responsible would be Madara Uchiha."

Zabuza snorted in disbelief. "One of the founding fathers of your village and the one who turned traitor? I thought your Shodaime Hokage killed him."

"Hashirama Senju wrote that he was unable to find Madara's body. No one has been able to prove for certain that he is dead. In the Uchiha clan library, there were some entries suggesting that he is immortal due to his possession of the Eternal Mangekyo sharingan."

"Eternal what?"

Kakashi picked it up. "We all know what the regular sharingan is. The Mangekyo is a more powerful variant that supposedly required an Uchiha to kill one of their closest associates. Looks somewhat like this." The cyclops raised his hitai-ate and his sharingan swirled and changed form.

"That actually looks a lot like what I saw, but a bit different from the pattern."

Sarutobi continued. "Each Mangekyo is unique to the user. Madara Uchiha was known to have possessed one and used it to control all of the bijuu at one time. There are downsides to the Mangekyo however. Prolonged usage of the Mangekyo results in the deterioration of eyesight. There is a version that does not suffer from that. According to legend, Madara took the eyes of his brother, Izuna, who also had the Mangekyo, and substituted them for his own. The result was a Mangekyo that never deteriorated. It remains 'eternal,' hence the Eternal Mangekyo sharingan. For some reason, implanting a sharingan in a foreign host body prevents the deterioration. It explains why Kakashi hasn't gone blind in his eye. And," he pulled out an old journal and opened it. "this is a picture of Madara's Mangekyo."

Zabuza's breath caught in his throat. "That's it! That's the pattern I saw!"

The hokage sighed as he closed the book. "Then our worst fears are realized. Madara Uchiha is alive, well, and meddling in the affairs of the great nations."

The swordsman clenched a fist. "So what do we do?"

The old man smiled grimly. "What can we do? Against Madara, one does not move in haste. Were we to do so, we might provoke his wrath. The Tsuchikage remains the only living person to have fought him, and he would tell you that surviving a battle with him would be an inhuman achievement. We have to take this slowly, gathering what intelligence we can on his activities and making plans to deal with them. Rest assured, Konoha will make all efforts to restore Kirigakure to the status quo ante of Madara's interference. Getting into contact with any rebellious elements of Mist that you may be aware of would be a decent start on that front."

The mist jonin rubbed his neck with a free hand. "Well, it's nice to know I'm not alone now."

"Speaking on that front, will you accept Konoha's hospitality for the time being?"

"Oh hell yes! I'm sick of sleeping on a damn rock outside."

The old man placed his signature on a form and handed it to the jonin. "Kakashi will escort you to your temporary lodgings. I presume that your partner will be staying with you?"

Zabuza looked at Haku, who still had a death grip on his arm. "Seeing how I can't get the kid to let go, I really don't have a choice. He's been like this since that blond kid used a weird jutsu against him."

Kakashi answered the Sandaime's unspoken question. "Naruto created a new jutsu to forcibly instill fear in the enemy. It might have adversely affected him."

"I'll see about getting him a therapist."

After the two jonin left with Haku in tow, the hokage filled out a scroll and summoned a messenger hawk.

*break*

Tenten had known Naruto for years starting from the day he and the Hyuuga retainer assigned to him walked through the doors of her family weapon shop. She hadn't seen him much lately due to a combination of Naruto not actually needing his weapons until recently and her sensei's training regimen. Today, he walked in with his shuriken and kunai pouches in his hands.

"Yo Ten-chan, you mind looking through this and telling me what I need to replace? I'm going to browse."

"Sure."

The weapons mistress noticed right away that Naruto wasn't looking at the main attractions in the shop. Barely a glance at the racks of swords, axes, clubs and staves. Instead, the blond was diligently inspecting the knife collection. Combat knives, hunting knives, katars, kukri, weapons that typically didn't draw crowds. The blond eventually settled on a 46 centimeter matte black heavy duty fighting knife. Snatching a box from beneath the display, he walked to the counter where Tenten had already finished going through his projectile weapons.

"Well you need to replace three kunai and two shuriken. If you're going to buy that knife, the bill runs to 1,540 ryo. Sure you can afford it, Naruto?"

The blond grinned. "I just got back from an A-rank mission."

"WHAT? No fair! Gai-sensei still has us doing B-ranks!"

Naruto continued his gloating. "We faced down Zabuza of the Mist and saved an entire country! How's that after a month of D-ranks?"

The girl's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. "You fought one of the Seven Swordsmen? Lucky!" She was actually pouting. "How tough was he? Did you see his sword? What was it like?"

"Ten-chan, Kakashi-sensei's the one who fought him."

"But you still got to-oh hey Neji!"

"Uzumaki," Neji greeted with a slight arrogant smirk. "I see that fate has yet to rid us of the annoyance that constitutes your existence."

Naruto looked at Tenten before mimicking Neji's expression and arrogance. "Hyuuga, I see fate has yet to rid us of the annoyance that constitutes the stick up your ass." Tenten giggled, while Neji took the jibe in stride from his old sparring partner.

"I look forward to our next match. Perhaps you'll present more of a challenge than my weak cousin."

"Yeah whatever. See you around."

Tenten pinned Naruto with a look. "You still didn't answer my questions. Talk!"

"Jeez, if you want to know, look around! Zabuza came back here with us. He should be somewhere in the vi-" Naruto flattened himself against the wall to get out of the way of the unstoppable force that was Tenten. "Wow, she's excited."

*break*

Sasuke rebounded from his opponent, sweat pouring from his face as his feet adhered to the surface of the training grounds. _Damn,_ he thought as he eyed the man. _So close to getting a hit!_

"Don't watch my eyes," Kakashi told him as he recentered himself in his defense. "Watch my hands, watch my feet. That will tell you something. Watching my face tells you nothing."

Sasuke snarled to himself. Easier said than done. Old habits were very hard to break. He launched himself at his sensei once more, and once again shifting focus from the hands to the head. He received a shoulder throw for his trouble.

"Listen, if you spend all your time trying to read faces, you won't be losing yourself in your emotions. You'll be losing yourself in your enemy's emotions, which is even worse. The Sharingan is just a tool, and you have to know how to use it properly! Control yourself, control your emotions, and concentrate only on reading your enemy's movements and how to turn that against him! If you don't, your opponent will use that against you. You've seen what can happen."

How could he forget? Against Haku, that ice-wielding speedster, he had been unable to land a single blow. Naruto had simply waltzed in, blew up that mirror dome and disabled Haku with not even five words and a gesture! He, Sasuke, heir to the Uchiha legacy, had proven to be incapable of matching the traitor's abilities when his brother was _half_ his age! Not only that, Haku seemed perfectly at ease in his presence, but was still absolutely terrified of the blond. It was the sort of fear that Itachi-ni instilled in jonin three times his age. It was so frustrating. Naruto had started out barely superior to him, and had rapidly become the team powerhouse, even frightening Kakashi Hatake, the man of a thousand jutsu! He was now holding third place, over _Sakura_. It really pissed him off that he had let himself fall so low.

Kakashi could tell from the way Sasuke drew his muscles tighter and tighter that he was not in control of his anger. It was controlling him. That was going to have to stop. "Sasuke, forget about the past for now! Forget about everything except me! There is just me, your opponent. Do not think about anything else!"

For a few seconds, he thought the boy might have been too far lost in inner rage to comply. Then Sasuke took a deep breath and shoved his thoughts to the side. _Focus on sensei…focus on beating sensei… just focus on coming up with ways to land one on sensei…_

"Good, good. Now keep that focus, and come at me again."

Sakura watched from the sidelines as her crush and her sensei clashed once more. While she had improved some under Naruto's tutelage, it was a far cry from the display in front of her now. The crispness, the precision, the lack of hesitation, all of it far beyond her reach. It stung. She was the dead weight on the team. Her only meaningful contribution was done at Naruto's urging. It seemed like she was the forgotten one.

"Beautiful isn't it?"

Sakura looked up and to her right to see a kunoichi standing next to her with red eyes and a bandage dress.

"This isn't even the pinnacle of taijutsu, and those two still make it look effortless. They have the talent."

Neutral words, but the underlying implication made it even more painful to watch. _They have the talent, and I don't…_

The kunoichi sighed. "Don't dwell on it. There's no way I can fight on their level either. It's not my style, and I don't think that would be yours."

"What do you mean?"

The woman sat down. "Tell me Sakura, what are the five shinobi arts?"

"Fuuinjutsu, Taijutsu, Kenjutsu, Ninjutsu and Genjutsu," the pinkette rattled off without hesitation.

"Taijutsu is only one branch of arts. There are other branches, and they all have their uses in combat. I will be the first to admit that I am not cut out for the physical arts. My body isn't built for power or speed. I specialize in finesse. The area I can excel in is Genjutsu. I use illusions to catch the enemy off guard and eliminate them before they can pose a real threat. It doesn't require major physical training at all."

That sounded like a perfect match for herself, Sakura thought. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Kakashi-sempai didn't tell you?" Before she could give a blank look, the woman grabbed her face. "What am I thinking? Of course he didn't. You have a natural affinity for Genjutsu and other specialized arts relying on chakra control. Kakashi-sempai is good with it, but I'm the best in the village. He asked me to tutor you on the side."

Sakura was stunned. Was this for real? Someone thought she _wasn't_ useless?

"But before I take you on as a student, I need you to answer two questions: do you want to learn Genjutsu, and why? This is an art that is very demanding and very dangerous to your victims. I am not going to teach you if I think there's even the slightest chance you will abuse what you learn."

The girl thought to herself, framing the question while the jonin waited. "I…I do want to learn. I want to learn so I can actually help my teammates. I'm always sitting on the side! I don't want to keep doing that!"

The woman smiled. "Good answer. Now, follow me. We'll need some place quiet. And you can call me Kurenai-sensei."

*break*

Naruto was at another of the training grounds, taking the time to familiarize himself with his new weapon, the fighting knife. He was currently fending off two of his clones, also armed with the knife.

The first one came in with a lunging stab, knife going flush for his lungs. Naruto simply sidestepped to the right, using his left hand to grab the clone's knife arm and backhanding him in the face. Using the rebound, he spun left to meet the second clone who was coming at him with the knife held icepick style in a horizontal swing from the right. Quickly sending his own arm down and to the left, he snapped up and right, locking and forcing the second clone's blade to circle over his head and pulling the shadow clone one step closer. The clone retaliated by throwing a high aimed left kick at his head. Naruto bent backward until his head and neck were parallel to the ground, sinking to his knees as he went under the kick. He pivoted right and extended his right leg to leap at the first clone, who was just about to attack him again.

Extending his left arm, he landed a good grip on the first while switching to an icepick grip for the knife. When the first clone landed on its back, he stabbed down once where the heart would be before quickly rolling to the left, narrowly escaping the axe kick from his second clone. The sole remaining entity switched his grip to the standard and lunged. Naruto's attempt to parry allowed the clone to bend his arm and draw ever closer into a shoulder blow that sent him rolling backward. He rose to his feet and locked eyes with his clone. They charged, the clone readying a slash while Naruto held the icepick grip at his side. The clone slashed only to find that Naruto had vaulted his charge. His momentum induced Naruto's body to spin in the air. The original seized the instant and threw the knife at the back of the clone. It speared the clone in the neck, before clattering to the ground as the entity vanished.

"Whoa! That was cool!"

"I toldja if we watched this place we'd see something!"

Naruto was surprised that someone had been watching. He really needed to make that emotional sense of his second nature. "Who are you?"

A small brown-haired academy student with goggles on his head emerged from the nearby trees with two of his friends in tow. "I'm Konohamaru! Nice ta meetcha! He's Udon," he pointed to the white-haired glasses-wearing boy. "and her name is Moegi!"

Naruto cocked an eyebrow, trying to figure out what had clicked in his head. "Oh, you're Jiji's grandson! I've seen you around before."

The first statement floored the children. Rarely had they heard of Konohamaru's grandfather referred to so informally. The only ones who got away with that, so far as the boy knew, were all really powerful shinobi. It immediately endeared the blond to them.

_He must be really strong._

*break*

Sakura walked through the village with a new spring in her step. Kurenai-sensei had shown her an entirely new way of combat yesterday, and it was a major boost to her self-confidence that she was able to learn the basics of genjutsu in such a short time. _Just you wait,_ she thought to herself as she followed her crush to find their sensei. Just then, they were treated to the sight of Naruto and three children making a scene.

"That's the hokage's grandson you're threatening," her teammate was saying to a boy dressed like a kabuki actor who was lifting one of the children by the collar.

"Kankurou," a blond girl with a fan on her back hissed. "put him down and stop drawing attention. You know what _he's_ going to do-"

"Yeah yeah, don't remind me," the black robed kid let go of the apparent grandson of the hokage.

Before either Sasuke or Sakura could jump in, Naruto pointed to a nearby tree. "I'm going to take a wild-ass guess," he drawled. "and say that the scary creep you two are talking about is the one in the tree over there whose been pissed off for the past minute?"

Everyone stared where he was pointing, and the unfamiliar pair turned ghostly pale. In the tree stood a red head who was clearly not pleased with what was happening. Having been singled out, he dropped to the ground in front of the pair.

"Do I have to give you a reason not to embarrass yourselves?" the boy snapped as the gourd on his back opened and a stream of sand swirled out and coiled around the pair. They were absolutely terrified.

"N-n-no! We got it Gaara! We got it! Please don't-"

"Then shut up," the boy growled, cutting off the girl and recalling his sand. He then turned to face Naruto. "You," he spiked his killing intent. "tell me your name."

Naruto, in a display that would awe the three children watching, unleashed his chakra and set it roiling over his frame while strategically injecting fear into the minds of the three before him and shooting off his own killing intent. Gaara suddenly found himself with a feeling that he had never experienced before. He didn't like it.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

And just as fast, everything stopped. The two behind the red head were now unsure who to be afraid of: their youngest sibling, or the blond.

"Uzumaki, I look forward to meeting you in the Chuunin Exams. I am certain Mother will find your spirit to be of satisfying taste."

Team 7, Konohamaru and his friends watched them leave. Sakura spoke first.

"The Chuunin exams? Already?"

Naruto smirked. "I wonder if we'll be eligible."

Sasuke envisioned other opponents to test himself against. "I hope so."

*break*

A silver-haired youth dashed from tree to tree, searching for his master. Sensing a foul presence, he turned toward it and homed in. Soon, he was kneeling at the feet of a pale malicious man.

"Orochimaru-sama, I have some information of interest."

One of the most infamous traitors in Konoha's history plucked the scroll from his servant's hand and opened it. His eyes narrowed first in surprise, then amusement. "Excellent work, Kabuto. We shall make our adjustments accordingly. Return to your post."

The youth nodded and disappeared, leaving the pale white man with the scroll bearing the seal of Konoha's medical division. The name at the bottom: Seina Kinzou

**You'll notice Sasuke isn't blaming anyone for holding him back, or Naruto for an unfair advantage. He's blaming himself.**

**I never got how Kishimoto thinks that anyone could possibly be as arrogant as canon Sasuke. To me, this line of thinking is much more realistic.**

**If anyone is wondering about the last part, the invasion wouldn't be any fun to write about if Orochimaru got caught flat-footed. Kabuto isn't that bad at espionage.**

**A little teaser for all of you: Naruto isn't the only one with an empathetic ability. There is exactly ONE other person who will have it in the story. See if you can guess who. I left a hint in Chapter Three.**

**Read and Review!  
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	8. Chapter 8

**The Chuunin Exams start here. This chapter is really just to transition to the Forest of Death part.  
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Chapter Eight

Kakashi was now second guessing whether or not his recommendations with regard to his team for the Chuunin Exams were accurate. It was just about two months from the time they became genin. Was his team really ready for the bigs?

Naruto was easily ready. He was the most mature of the three, by necessity. Slowly but surely, he had drifted away from his grudge against the villagers and that spoke more about his character than anything else.

Sakura had, according to Kurenai, been severely underrated with regards to his recommendation on her aptitude for genjutsu. Kami, that jonin newbie couldn't shut up about the diamond in the rough his pink-haired student turned out to be. Well, she did know her genjutsu. At least he could expect the girl to take a more active role on the team. But he would suggest to the jonin-sensei that she teach Sakura techniques that focused on subtlety, evasion and defense. Given the strengths of her teammates, she would really be better off as a support shinobi.

Sasuke was a bit of a problem. Whatever Itachi had really said made his brother seem to ignore basic logic. Itachi was a prodigy who trained himself at a murderous level from the earliest age possible: three. Sasuke hadn't really started doing anything until age seven. There was just no catching up. If he knew the traitor as well as he did, Itachi would have only furthered himself in power. The boy needed to realize that he had a team to help him. Naruto as he was now stood a fairly good chance at laying Itachi low due to his unique abilities, and Sasuke could take advantage of that if he had the presence of mind to do so.

Itachi was the main problem with regards to his brother. No one, not even the hokage or his advisors knew what made Itachi go on a rampage. As an ANBU, his schtick had been precision and efficiency. Setting himself in the shoes of his erstwhile subordinate, he would have opted for flat out demolition. Set a network of tags around the compound, get far away, and set them off. The resulting disruption, to put it mildly, would draw attention from his escape and be much harder to pin on him. He would have had the authority as a ranking officer of ANBU to go pretty much wherever the hell he wished. The fact that he didn't do that…

He shook his head. _Kami, I need a drink, again._ Maybe he was thinking this too much. Maybe he really hadn't _known_ Itachi, and had been fooled like everyone else. Ah wait, his team was here. Time to push those thoughts to the side.

"As you might have heard yesterday," he began. "the Chuunin exams will be starting soon, in two days. Here are application forms. Fill them out and take them to the building. Hope you can pass."

Sasuke was puzzled. "What building? How will we know?"

"You'll see a sign."

He raised an eyebrow, but let it drop. Kakashi turned to walk away.

"We're not training today?"

"Nope. You three should rest up and take time off. It'll be your only break before the exams start. Use it well."

The team watched him walk off, and then shrugged.

"Well I don't know about you," Naruto commented. "but I'm still going to train again. See you round."

Sakura stared after Sasuke, who was turning to follow Naruto. _M-maybe I'll go to Kurenai-sensei again. I still only know the basics…_

Naruto smirked. "You're coming along to watch?"

The Uchiha kept his face schooled in neutrality. "Nope. We're just walking in the same direction for now."

"You can't lie to me, remember? I can feel your emotions."

"So I'm curious. So what?"

"Well the way you almost brought up your lunch back in Nami no kuni after I ripped Gato apart, I thought you had a weak stomach. If that's the case, you're not going to like this."

"Why's that?"

"Because it involves stuff that would make the Demon of the Bloody Mist lose his lunch. You know, speaking of the bandage wonder, what's he been doing? We haven't seen him around lately…"

*break*

Zabuza had to hand it to Konoha. Their experts really knew their stuff. Haku was still hesitant to leave his presence, but at least he wasn't bogging down his partner with 43 kilograms of weight on one arm anymore. After waking up and eating at a restaurant called Ichiraku's the two had walked to the Medical Center and entered for their appointment.

After two minutes, Haku's therapist arrived. "Welcome back, Haku-kun," Kabuto Yakushi smiled.

*break*

Inoichi rubbed his chin. "Mind induction eh? Well it's a start."

Naruto looked at his tutor dryly. "Thank you for that vote of confidence."

"Hey, I'm not diminishing your abilities. It's just that you still have a ways to go. It's only one jutsu."

"Well hey, I was hoping you might be able to give me an idea for another one."

The Yamanaka smirked. "Have you considered using your abilities to help your team?"

"Yep, but I don't think I have the control for that. I used Seshini Yuudan on Haku, and now the guy is scared shitless if I walk within five meters of him. I don't want that happening with my team."

"I disagree," Naruto raised an eyebrow. "You have shown impressive discipline with your abilities and maturity. You've pretty much let go of your past dealings with the villagers. I haven't heard any real recent complaint against you in a long time. And you don't have any idea how difficult it is _not_ to cause permanent irreversible damage to the mind. I was called in as a consultant by the Medical Center on behalf of Hokage-sama, to recommend a good therapist for that Haku kid. I evaluated him before his therapy sessions started. Don't get me wrong. You did handle him roughly, but he will make a full recovery.

"What I am saying to you is that you _do_ have the control to use a jutsu on your allies to help them. I don't recommend Seshini Yuudan, but I am sure you can, in time, create a jutsu with a little more finesse. The one you have right now is rough and unrefined, but also a phenomenally powerful tool. Just remember though: it is easy to handle the big and powerful, but the unwieldiness limits what it can be used for. It's much harder for the small and weak because you want to go big, but at the same time you need finesse and control."

The blond nodded. "Okay, but how do I get better control?"

"You can start by continuously sensing the emotional states of everyone around you. Make that sense of yours second nature. When you can do it unconsciously, it means your body has been programmed to automatically establish a minimally invasive link to everyone within reach. With that, you minimize the chance of causing damage you might wish to avoid, and you could begin practicing on, and I cannot stress this enough, _willing and strong-minded volunteers_. Just because you have control does not mean you should take any chances. I want that to be very clear. Understand?"

"Hai, sensei."

"Now where did your teammate go? Why don't you spend some free time with him?"

Naruto grinned widely.

*break*

Words could not and would not ever describe the horror, the green, stretchy, form-fitting horror, that Sasuke's eyes beheld.

"Yosh, Gai-sensei! Today I shall do 1000 push-ups on my left hand!"

"And I shall do 2000 laps around the Great Wall!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

And as the two spandex horrors embraced, Sasuke was floored on his back, writhing and scrabbling at his eyes. Tenten and Neji sighed.

"The green! The fabric! It burns! The AGONY!"

The weapon mistress pulled out a hypnotic mask while the Hyuuga withdrew a bottle of anti-psychotics.

"Don't worry," Tenten grunted as she slipped the mask under the Uchiha's fingers and over his eyes and activated the mask. "You get used to it."

"Sad, but true," Neji added as he slipped two pills into Sasuke's mouth and held his jaw shut.

*break*

"You sent that boy to the spandex duo?" Ibiki repeated bemusedly while Anko and Inoichi laughed like hyenas in the background.

"He's so damned focused on his taijutsu. I wanted to show him the ultimate fate that awaits him!"

Ibiki smirked and patted Naruto on the head. "That's our student, traumatizing his peers."

"Funny thing about that Scarhead, Kakashi-sensei said the same thing."

Ibiki laughed. "Get out of here and have fun. You got the exams in two days. Enjoy the time you have."

"See ya!"

*break*

A tall man with long white hair, lines painted down his face and a hitai-ate with the symbol for Oil on his head walked past the Hokage's secretary while ignoring her protests. He pushed open the door and was not surprised to see the old man waiting for him.

"Jiraiya, thank you for returning."

The man smiled. "Well the note said urgent, and I can get some decent research done at the baths."

Sarutobi mirrored the smile briefly before adopting a more serious expression. "What I am about to tell you remains here in this room. We have reason to believe that Madara Uchiha is alive and at large."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "And he had something to do with the Kyuubi attack." It was not a question.

"Correct."

The old student grabbed a chair and sat down. "What's the proof?"

"I suppose you might have heard of events that transpired in Nami no Kuni?"

"Kinda hard to miss, sensei. One of the underground's most powerful businessmen suddenly dies while securing a stranglehold over a nation, people are going to talk."

"And you know of Naruto's involvement in that affair?"

"They named the damn bridge after him. Not really a subtle hint."

"Kakashi and his team returned with Zabuza Momochi and his partner in tow. Zabuza-san had no reason to lie about his story. If he had wanted to, I am certain he would have parted ways with Kakashi's team long beforehand. Our guest told a fascinating story about how the current Mizukage is being controlled by an outside influence that curiously wears the Uchiha crest."

Jiraiya cocked his head. "That's not nearly enough proof for you to call me here. There's more to it."

"Indeed. I showed Zabuza-san a picture of Madara Uchiha's Eternal Mangekyo sharingan, and he immediately recognized it. He had seen the same pattern in Yagura-san's eyes."

The taller man leaned forward. "So Madara Uchiha is alive and operating in Mist country…you know, I've heard of a group of S-ranked missing-nin based near Mist. They're called Akatsuki. According to my sources, they're looking for information about each nation's jinchuuriki. Sound suspicious?"

"Considering that Madara manipulated the Kyuubi during the attack, I'm also inclined to think, upon hearing that knowledge, that they are related. Do you know what they intend to do with that information?"

"My informants are making discreet inquiries on that front, but nothing so far about their intentions."

The old man rubbed his eyes. "Considering what little information we had to begin with, we should be glad with what we have. But I am not content."

"Hey you don't see me jumping for joy either, do you sensei?"

Sarutobi sighed. "Given that new information, I would like you to train Naruto in additional combat techniques. Whatever this Akatsuki intends to do regarding the jinchuuriki, it cannot be good."

"I was just about to suggest that."

"Before that however, there is something you should know-"

"Naruto has empathetic capabilities."

Silence, then…

"How did you know?" the hokage asked incredulously. "Please don't tell me that information is floating in the underworld!"

"Sensei, I already suspected something like this would happen as a result of the Kyuubi's influence."

"But how?"

Jiraiya leaned over and whispered into the man's ear.

"By kami, and you never thought to tell me something like that?"

"She swore me to secrecy! I wanted to! I suggested that we tell you, but it just didn't go that way. And come on sensei, if you suddenly discovered a connection to other people you couldn't explain, would you go around talking about it? No! She was scared!"

The hokage pulled on his face. "Well it explains some of her abilities. I don't suppose Orochimaru knows this as well, does he?"

Jiraiya's silence told the tale.

"Wonderful."

"And about _him,_ he used to be part of Akatsuki, but then he split off. Lately, I've been hearing rumors of his involvement with a new village, Otogakure. They appear to be getting cozy with Suna."

"Oto? I believe they are sending one team to the exams."

"You might want to keep an eye on them sensei," Jiraiya suggested dryly.

The old man sighed once more. "Duly noted. And this news of an alliance with Suna is odd. The Kazekage is not one to ally with a new village or one make a move that could aggravate our relations. It seems this is a year of headaches." He paused. "I will need some time to construct our plan of attack for these issues. I'll call on you later."

"Wish I could say nice to see you again sensei, but I can't with this news."

*break*

The very next day found Team Seven entering the exam building. Sasuke had groaned upon remembering Kakashi's words about seeing a _sign_.

"Well at least he made things clear."

"That was one of the lamest puns I've ever heard."

"Can't be any worse than the spandex duo, right Sasuke?"

Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the shoulder, spun him around, and glared into his eyes. "I will get you for that," he growled.

Naruto smirked. "They focused absolutely on taijutsu, and look what happened to them. The way you were going, I did you a favor."

"Hey," Sakura interrupted. "Aren't we on the second floor?"

The three looked at the room number. It had the 300 prefix, but they had only gone up one flight of stairs. Sasuke made the seal, but Naruto clamped a hand down.

"Don't break it. This is to weed out the worst. Let's just go quietly up to the third floor."

Acknowledging that it was a good idea, Sasuke agreed and the team headed up. They were surprised to find Kakashi waiting for them.

"Very good, you can take the exams now."

Sakura frowned. "What are you talking about, sensei? Don't the forms already let us do that?"

"You need a full team to participate. If any of you hadn't shown up, you would have been ineligible. No worries though. You're all here, so you can go on in. Good luck."

The three pushed through the door to find their fellow classmates from the Academy waiting. Ino swooped down on Sasuke, provoking Sakura's wrath. While the two bickered, Naruto walked over to Shikamaru and Chouji.

"Yo, haven't seen you two in a while. What's it like getting teamed with the blond harpy?"

Shikamaru groaned. "Troublesome like you wouldn't believe."

Kiba overheard and felt the need to chime in. "You be whipped, Nara!"

"Can it knuckleheads!" A familiar voice, to Naruto at least, boomed throughout the room. "Get in, sit down, and shut up! Part One of the exam is starting!"

Naruto smirked as he saw Ibiki and his eager but thus far nameless assistant from the Interrogation unit.

"Hey, it's Jarhead and Scarhead!" Jarhead referred to the aforementioned assistant who was very green on the job.

What few amused reactions died immediately as Ibiki glared at the class, then he settled on Naruto. "Got something you want to say, short dumb and blond?"

Recognizing the thinly veiled threat of retribution, Naruto said nothing.

"That's what I thought. Now take your fucking seats! Next person who mouths off gets their whole team booted!"

Next to him, Naruto heard a familiar voice. "Um, g-good luck Naruto-kun…"

He turned to discover Hinata sitting to his right. He smiled. "You too."

"Alright maggots, listen up! This is a written exam, and you will be graded based on your responses! You will notice that the tenth question on this paper has been left blank! You will find out what it is after 45 minutes, and you will provide an answer, _or you will fail this exam_! Here at the sides of the room are proctors who will be watching your every move! If you are caught cheating, you will lose two points off your score, and this test is a ten-point test! Lose them all, and your whole team fails! Is that understood?"

A chorus of "Hai," echoed through the room.

Ibiki now spoke in a quieter voice. "Good luck. Part one begins…now."

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he pondered the oddness of the grading scheme. Usually for written exams, cheating was an instant flunk. Assuming all answers were correct, the two-point losses meant five chances to cheat. That, the fact that the questions were beyond the ability of most genin to answer, and that the whole team would fail, told him the real objective: to cheat and not get caught. There was just one problem with that for him: it would reveal some of his own capabilities. His mentors, Anko in particular, had lectured him at length on the importance of keeping the enemy in the dark about his abilities. Potentially, by actually answering the questions, he could give away methods. And he really didn't want to.

And so he waited, smirking at the proctors. Ibiki sent a questioning look at him. Naruto simply leaned back and tapped his head. Ibiki swore to himself. Damn, the boy knew the objective, and he wasn't going to play along! Did he have to ruin his fun?

The scar-faced man noted that his teammates _were_ answering the questions, so at least he hadn't informed his team. Probably waiting to laugh at them later.

Hinata worriedly spied on her crush, who hadn't written a single thing on the paper. Didn't he want to pass? Naruto felt her concern, picked up the pencil and scribbled a short message: _The answers don't matter._

They didn't? But why did the proctor say otherwise? And how did her crush know what she was thinking?

_I have a bloodline that lets me feel emotions._

What? Feel emotions? Then-unbidden, Hinata flushed scarlet as she realized that Naruto was probably long aware of her feelings for him. Using her Byakugan, she could see him smirking, though without any hint of malice.

While this sideshow was going on, several of the fifty three-man teams were disqualified. After a display where the first genin who complained was brutally man-handled against the wall, no one dared to argue. After the 45 minutes…

"Alright maggots, it's time for the tenth question! If you choose not to answer it, you can leave and take the exam at another time. But if you answer, and your answer is incorrect, you will forfeit your chance to become chuunin for the rest of your life!"

"That's bullshit!" an unnamed genin in the back called. "Other people took the exam, got booted and took it again!"

Ibiki smirked. "Well unlike you, they _passed_ part one the first time, maggot! So what's it gonna be? Take it and possibly never become chuunin? Or leave it for next year? If one goes, the team goes."

More teams got up and left, leaving behind a total of 24 teams from the original 50.

"No more? That's it? Alright, you all passed. You see kids, there was no tenth question. It was meant to simulate a hard choice you might make on a mission. Chuunin are expected to lead. The tenth question was a leadership issue. Some missions, you can fall back and live, or go ahead with a chance of death. Chuunin would take that chance, because when leading a mission, failure is not an option! That's what-"

Ibiki was interrupted by a ball smashing through the window. "Alright shitstains, follow me to Part Two!"

The scarred man dropped his face in his hand. "You're early Anko, again."

**Now I've thought about how I'd like to end the story. I can spin it into happily ever after, aka, standard ending, scarred war veteran, or Naruto commits suicide. I'm kinda sick of all the happily ever after stories on this site though.  
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**Vote and tell me which end you'd like to see.**

**Review!  
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	9. Chapter 9

**Now for Orochimaru to pop up in the Forest of Death, and then Neji brutalizes Hinata. I'd say "enjoy," but it might be hard to do after reading the last match.  
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Chapter Nine

As Anko explained the second part of the exam in typical Mitarashi fashion, Naruto eyed one of the genin from Kusa, with a pale face and abnormally long tongue. Sasuke and Sakura noticed.

"What is it?"

"That guy…something is off about him…I know we're enemies in this part, but he seems like more than just a competitor in the exam…"

Sasuke shrugged. "Maybe you're just being paranoid. This isn't exactly a friendly competition."

"You know that even paranoids have enemies?"

Sasuke shook his head but let it drop as Anko finished.

"Now that you know what you have to do, sign these release forms! They say that Konoha takes no responsibilities for any injuries, illnesses or deaths that happen in the forest. No signature, no participation! After you hand it in, you can get your scroll. Remember that you can't open it until you obtain a corresponding one and reach the towers. If you do, things will happen, and you ain't gonna like em! Get a move on, shitstains!"

The various genin complied and then moved to their assigned gates. On the bell, the gates opened and the competitors took their first steps into the forest.

"So who takes the scroll?" Sakura asked.

Naruto smiled. "I've got an idea on that." The blond summoned three clones, one of whom stuffed the real Earth scroll into his jacket before they henged into perfect copies of the scroll. "In case we get knocked out, my clones can still keep the scroll out of enemy hands."

Sasuke smirked as he received the one with the real scroll inside. "Clever. That's a first for you."

"Really? Well guess who realized that filling out the questions in the first part was a waste of time?"

"Did you even answer a question with that puny brain of yours?"

"Nope! I didn't feel like giving away my abilities."

Sasuke frowned slightly. _Damn, I should have thought about that._

"Don't beat yourself up. Everyone knows you're an Uchiha. You were expected to use sharingan. Just as long as you don't show off your other abilities-"

"Hey I hate to interrupt you two," Sakura cut in. "but we need to get moving if we want to finish this part."

"Right."

It didn't take even fifteen minutes before they ran into another genin team, one from Amegakure that Sakura paralyzed with a special technique that Kurenai taught her involving contact genjutsu and basic taijutsu. Unfortunately, the team did not have a heaven scroll, but they pocketed the extra because, as Naruto reminded them, they would at least have a spare.

"Well that was a waste," Sakura pouted.

Sasuke shrugged. "One less team to make it to part three,"

Naruto stretched out his senses, but found no one within range. "I can't find anyone near us now. Let's head to the center of the forest. There's a better chance of us finding a Heaven scroll."

"Good idea."

*break*

In the jonin lounge, bets were being placed. Team leaders from all the various villages, temporarily on friendly terms, came up to the betting stand and made a variety of predictions on which of the genin teams would be left, and the odds against those outcomes. By the end of today, the Konoha jonin leaders, for the most part, would come out ahead. Kakashi leaned against a wall, holding his prized book in one hand and playing jan-ken-pon against Gai with the other, and winning hands down (no pun intended). Kurenai and Asuma watched in amusement as they took pleasure in each other's proximity.

"How long do you think it'll take," the chain-smoking Sarutobi mused. "before Gai sees that Kakashi's watching him in the mirror on the other side of the room with his sharingan?"

The kunoichi grinned. "He won't. He'll give up eventually and never notice."

"Winner takes top tonight?"

"Deal."

Kakashi smirked behind his mask at that. It was a hotly debated topic about who wore the pants in their relationship. He remembered the talk regarding his sensei and his wife. In THAT particular case, there was no doubt. Kushina-sempai, the legendary Aka Shinsei (Red Nova) of the ANBU heavy assault corps previous generation, was one assertive woman, and a bombshell (literally, because she specialized in explosives and traps) of headaches for the Yondaime when he took command.

"Once more, my eternal rival! Jan-Ken-Pon!"

Gai held Paper while Kakashi had Scissors.

"Agh! Curse you and your hip attitude! I shall strive to surpass you! You are a worthy rival!"

Kakashi cocked his head and looked at the spandex horror. "You say something?"

While Gai wailed, ignored by everyone in the lounge, Kurenai turned to Asuma with a mischievous smile. "See you at your place tonight…" Then she sauntered away, leaving the man with a bemused smile.

"Well tonight's going to be the first time I got some in a while. Damn Shikamaru for forcing me to take extra time to motivate him…I'm being deprived…"

"Hey you want him motivated," Kakashi gestured at Gai, whose depression instantly cleared as he flashed Asuma a smile.

"You're a sick bastard, you know that? I like your thinking."

The door was suddenly kicked in by an ANBU whose shoulder markings were conspicuously lacking. "Kakashi-sempai, we have a problem. Tenzo-taicho wants your help."

The jonin sighed and pocketed his book before leaving. _By Kami, these rookies couldn't find their asshole with both hands, a mirror and a body diagram…_

*break*

Any nasty thoughts he was about to share with his former subordinate on the quality of the new meat of ANBU flew out the window when he saw what Tenzo had called him for.

Three _faceless_ corpses, well hidden in a bush near where one of the two teams from Kusa had walked to the second part of the Exam. The similarities to…no, not similarities. This was a replication of Orochimaru's signature infiltration techniques.

Once upon a time, he had been placed on a mission commanded by the snake master to launch a preemptive strike on a Kusa task force stationed near the Kiri border. The Shosagan no jutsu (Vanishing Facial Copy Technique) had been a particular favorite of the sadistic Sannin.

He met Tenzou's eyes through the mask. They both came to an agreement. This was bad.

"Tora," he ordered, drawing on his past authority. "notify Hokage-sama that Orochimaru has infiltrated the Forest." As the woman left, he turned his attention to Tenzou. "Where's Anko?"

"According to one of my men, she vanished before she could be brought over here."

"What? How would she-oh, she's on punitive duty for part two. Someone must have opened one of the scrolls early. But she hasn't reported in, so-"

The jonin was cut off by a wave of killing intent, answered by a different one of equal strength. It seemed abundantly clear something was wrong in the Forest.

"Fuck…"

*break*

Taking a rest after four hours of walking, Naruto had suddenly snapped to attention when he sensed something.

"What is it?"

"I don't know…it seems-fuck! It's that creepy guy from Kusa, but he's no genin! Watch out!"

A few seconds later, the three were confronted by a massive snake slithering into the area before it whipped its tail where they stood, forcing them all to move apart from the crater that formed on the forest floor.

Sasuke was the first to attack, forming the seals for Katon: Karyuudan (Fire release: Flame Dragon Bullet). The jutsu barely made the beast flinch, but it was distraction enough for Sakura to use a concealment genjutsu on the three of them. It did nothing to hide them from the newcomer however.

"Tsk tsk, is this all you can do Sasuke? Run and hide?"

The Uchiha's blood boiled, but Naruto blasted his mind with caution. _No! Stay quiet!_

"Oh please, do you really think I can't tell where you insects are hiding?"

Naruto glared at the Kusa imposter and formed a seal. "Jouton: Seshini Yuudan, Osore!"

Against a normal person with a normal mind, the jutsu would have incapacitated the victim as they were forced to deal with nightmares conjured up by their subconscious to sustain the fear. But Orochimaru had a powerful mind and a strong will, and his soul was a composite of others. The confusion as the jutsu attempted to target the fears of the individual parts largely neutralized the effects. What little was tangible in the Sannin's mind was overpowered by his will.

"Ah, the empathy brat. Thanks to that accursed ability of yours, stealth is nigh impossible against it. But you are limited by your body boy, so-"

A second Orochimaru materialized next to Naruto. "-let's see if your body can keep up!" The man backhanded the blond through a rock outcropping. The first one leapt after him while the one that punched Naruto out of sight turned to face Sasuke. "And Sasuke, let's see if you have the potential to beat your brother!"

Naruto swore at the pain in his back as he rolled to his feet and leapt out of the way of a descending axe kick. Forming a seal, he summoned thirty clone copies of himself, all of whom withdrew their knives. "You asked for it!"

Orochimaru, the real one instead of the mud clone occupying the blond's teammates, was impressed by the son of his one-time rival for the title of kage. He had been trained by the Hyuuga clan, and if anyone knew close-in fighting it would be them. But he was no fool. The boy was potentially a huge threat to his plans. According to Kabuto, the rumors were that he was pulling Sasuke away from thoughts of revenge against his brother. The Sannin was counting on that drive to deliver the boy willingly into his hands. He would have loved to kill the jinchuuriki for his (unintentional) interference, but that would have two very negative effects. It would draw the attention of those two accursed fools, Pein and Madara Uchiha, upon himself even more than it already was, and it would eliminate the only source of the Jouton bloodline, one of the few ways he could insulate himself from the two madmen and their plans if he could incorporate that bloodline into a future host. In any case, the boy's clones were providing him with a great deal of entertainment as they died upon the Kusanagi sword. He smirked. Soon it would be time to end this. He imagined that Sasuke should be close to eliminating the mud clone…

Naruto was getting angrier and angrier at himself. All his best moves, all his strategies, all the advantages afforded by his bloodline, and it wasn't enough! The damn guy was laughing at him! "More," he growled. "MORE," he began drawing upon the Kyuubi's chakra. "**MORE!**" His chakra, infused with his rage, mixed with the Kyuubi's to form a hybrid. Naruto was now wreathed in chakra, with the personal enhancement qualities of his own, the burning touch afforded by the Kyuubi, with none of the self-damage that usually came with the usage of the latter's chakra. A slight tensing after that was the final warning Orochimaru received before the boy smashed into him with colossal force.

It was an impact to rival the Sannin's teammate in her infamous strength technique. The shock from the blow echoed through the forest and startled Team 8, half a kilometer distant. The former jonin reeled and braced himself against a tree while Naruto adhered himself to the side of another and roared before unleashing killer intent to rival the beast from twelve years ago. Orochimaru smirked and poured his own killer intent into the area. He chuckled to himself. _Now, let the games begin!_

*break*

The reason Anko had vanished was because Sasuke had taken the extra scroll from Sakura and yanked it open in the face of the mud clone that Orochimaru left behind. In a flash of light, the tokubetsu jonin appeared, and had exactly half a second to notice that things were majorly wrong. Reappearance-of-her-traitorous-sensei type wrong. Then she was bowled over by the body blow of the rampaging clone.

"Gah!"

She slammed feet first into a tree and got her bearings, before leaping away to avoid a strike from the clone's Kusanagi. She landed near the two genin who opened the scroll.

"Do either of you mind telling me what the fuck is going on here?"

Sasuke snarled. "This guy shows up with a huge snake and punched Naruto somewhere that way, and now he's been attacking me for no damned reason! I thought that maybe opening the scroll would get someone here to deal with him!"

They scattered again to dodge Futon: Daitoppa (Wind release: Great Breakthrough).

"Oh I'll deal with him alright," Anko growled. "That's my ex-sensei."

Now fully aware, she went on the attack. The clone was surprised to find itself suddenly caught in the face with a flying kick from the woman. She then followed up with a Sen'eijashu (Hidden Snake Hands) to get a grip on his shoulders in mid-air before swinging her feet into the clone's stomach and slamming him into the tree behind.

The clone stood up, no worse for the wear. "Ah, if it isn't my dear old Anko. Enjoying my little gift?"

Anko scowled as she stood up straight on the ground. "You mean the taint of being your student and how the village hates my guts and calls me 'snake whore,' oh yeah. Really enjoyable, no thanks to you!"

"Such a shame. I gave you your strength, but you still don't have the mind to use it properly. Perhaps Sasuke-kun will be more receptive," the man smirked.

"Over my dead body!" Anko snarled as she lunged at him again. "You won't mark another person after today!"

Sasuke and Sakura looked on in confusion as the two attacked each other. Mark? Student? What was going on?

"RAGH!" Anko managed to overpower the clone and slam him against a tree. She held her left forearm across his throat and used her right to make a handseal against her teacher's. "You'll pardon me, but I need a hand! Sojososai no jutsu (Twin Snakes Mutual Death technique)!"

The clone grinned as two snakes erupted from each other's arms. "My dear, that was a foolish thing to do, after all-" the clone dissolved as the snake bit his arm. Naruto Uzumaki's unconscious form suddenly rocketed into the clearing to slam against a tree before sliding to the ground. The man himself stood where the boy had come from. "-I'm really over here," Orochimaru grinned.

Anko was too shocked to do anything as the other snake clamped down on her wrist. "Damn it…"

The sannin simply kicked his student to the side before turning to Sasuke. "Now where were we? Ah yes," And without any further warning, he materialized next to the Uchiha and clamped his jaw on the boy's shoulder. "Enjoy my little gift," he added while Sasuke collapsed, writhing in pain. "and find me should you desire more power, boy."

"N-no…not…again…" Anko moaned weakly as the man vanished.

*break*

Sakura was scared out of her mind by now. Her crush and the strongest person on the team both out of it, and even the proctor of the exam had been helpless against that man. Thirty minutes after the battle, a pair of ANBU had appeared and swept up Anko, who was pale, sweaty and shivering from the venom, and disappeared without a word. She had been left to care for her teammates. That mark on Sasuke's neck worried her. From what the delirious tokubetsu jonin had been saying, it was a brand of sorts that Orochimaru used to ensure loyalty to his followers, and it had a 90 percent chance of killing the victim. The thought that her crush could die brought slight tears to her eyes.

Naruto had been severely beaten and bruised, and he too had a mark on his neck, though it was of a needle instead of black tomoe markings. The blond had been somewhat pale when she made her way over to him, but color was returning to his face. She thought about Naruto's jutsu, Seshini Yuudan. Against Haku, it had worked. Hell, it traumatized the boy into avoiding Naruto at all costs. The thugs in Nami, permanently brain damaged. But this guy had shrugged it off like it was nothing. That really terrified the girl. Naruto, with one gesture, put down an army, and Orochimaru effectively ignored her teammate's ability. _What kind of a monster is he?_

Naruto slowly stirred, three hours after the battle, and opened his eyes. "…ow. I feel like Ten-chan used me for target practice with maces and clubs…again."

"Naruto!"

"Yeah yeah," he grumbled as he painfully got to his feet. "I'm up. What'd I miss? Last thing I remember is that guy introducing me to a tree, and the tree lost."

Sakura explained and Naruto smacked his fist in an open hand. "Damn! We lost the extra, Sasuke's got a hickey (Sakura flushed) and that guy wiped the floor with my ass! I can barely stand as it is! We're screwed if we get attacked now…"

And that's when the team from Oto showed up.

*break*

"I see," Kakashi said as Naruto and Sakura finished explaining things while Sasuke winced and picked at his shoulder. "Sasuke, do you think you can continue right now?"

The boy nodded his head through gritted teeth.

"Well after this next part, I'll talk to Hokage-sama and we'll get that thing sealed. You're lucky to be alive as it is."

The exposition on the history of the exams merely served as a drawn out torture session for Team Seven as they were forced to stand at attention while wondering when they would get some rest. Hinata glanced over in concern as Naruto massaged a tender rib, hissing in pain several times during the hokage's speech. Finally, when it seemed over…

"The second part of this examination has yielded far too many applicants for part three. We will be holding preliminary round matches to thin out the numbers."

_Fuck,_ Team Seven as a whole thought.

"Now I would ask that you turn your attention to the board. Your matches will be displayed here."

Naruto raised an eyebrow as he saw that he was paired with that girl on the team from Oto. _Easy match,_ he thought.

Sasuke was going to face some guy named Yoroi and Sakura got her rival. He looked at the other matches. _Ah fuck, Neji vs Hinata? Kiba vs Shikamaru?_ Now those were lopsided matchups if he ever saw them.

"First match, Naruto Uzumaki vs Kin Tsuchi. Enter the arena please."

Naruto suddenly remembered that he was still holding his transformed clone. He smirked, and willed the clone into the form of a pebble as he discretely palmed it from his jacket.

"Give up boy," the girl from sound taunted. "You'll lose anyway."

Naruto smirked at her and threw the pebble at her feet, landing it behind her.

"First match, begin!"

The pebble turned into the clone, who withdrew a syringe and stabbed it into the girl's neck before dispersing.

"What-agh!"

Naruto stood in the same place as before, but subtly reached out with his mind to influence hers.

"What did you do?" she growled as she rubbed her neck. The blond smiled even wider.

"I injected you with a poison formulated with venom gathered from the wildlife in the Forest. In about two and a half minutes, you'll start feeling the symptoms. Let's see, there's nausea," Kin suddenly felt a cold feeling in her stomach. "dizziness, shortness of breath and a few others." Naruto had been slowly feeding fear into her mind, kick-starting the girl's biological panic reaction. "And three minutes after that, the poison hijacks your metabolism and starts overproducing enzymes-I hope I remember this right-which break down body tissue. In other words, you'll be eaten alive from the inside out. If you surrender, I might give you the antidote, but I'm going to smash it in two minutes if you don't." The boy withdrew a second syringe.

"Y-you're bluffing," Kin protested weakly before suddenly losing her balance. Sweat dotted her brow.

"Whoops. Looks like I might have made it too concentrated. You got ninety seconds now before it eats you alive."

The girl screamed. "I SURRENDER!"

Naruto cocked an eyebrow before walking over. He injected the second syringe and the girl fell over, unconscious.

"Winner, Naruto Uzumaki!"

Sakura and Kakashi eyed the boy as he returned to the landing above. "Did you really poison her?"

Naruto grinned. "Nope. It was full of water. The second was a knockout drug."

Kakashi shook his head, smirking. "Clever to play mind games."

"Second match, Neji Hyuuga vs Hinata Hyuuga. Enter the arena."

The two Hyuuga faced off and Naruto muttered to his team. "This won't end well,"

Sasuke growled, trying to ignore the seal. "Why's that?"

"Neji has a grudge against the Main Branch of the Hyuuga," Kakashi offered. "and Hinata is a main branch member."

Sakura looked on as Neji began viciously assaulting his cousin. "Why?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Probably something to do with an incident we had with Kumo."

Hinata struggled to deflect the strikes, trying simply to last. She had known her cousin seemed to despise her, though the reason was beyond her. Naruto was watching though, and she was determined not to back down. Neji saw none of this. He only saw a weak spoiled princess who was higher than he was only by fate. If fate had smiled on his father, she would have been in the branch family.

The fight, if anyone could consider it a fight, swung wildly in Neji's favor when he landed nearly twenty strikes, deliberately targeting areas like the kidneys and lungs. As he backed away, Hinata collapsed, struggling to get back up.

"Why, Neji?" she begged. "Why do you hate me?"

Neji ignored her and turned to Hayate, the jonin proctor. "Call it. She can't fight-"

"Neji," Hinata cried. "whatever I did to you I'm sorry! Just…please don't hate me…"

Interrupted, the boy focused back on her just in time to hear her apology. _Sorry? SORRY?_ Rage ignited in his head. "I don't," he started as he coated his hand with chakra and rushed his cousin. "need YOUR PITY!" He slammed his right hand into Hinata's upper torso, rocketing her backward twenty meters. As the dust cleared, his cousin was unconscious, and four jonin, including the proctor, were holding his limbs.

"That's enough," Hayate coughed as Kurenai and Gai glared at the boy. "Winner, Neji Hyuuga."

"WHAT THE HELL!" Naruto leaped down into the arena and ran to Hinata. After looking her over, he glared at his old sparring partner while the medics took her away. "I don't know what the fuck your problem is with the Main Branch," he hissed. "but THIS was uncalled for! What the hell did Hinata-chan ever do to you?"

Neji raised an eyebrow. "I find it odd that a strong person like yourself sides with a weakling."

"Fuck you Neji! Answer the damn question!"

The boy turned away. "I wouldn't expect you to understand, Uzumaki."

He was stopped by a wave of killer intent. He spun to see Naruto suddenly standing right behind him, covered in violet malevolence and holding up a clawed hand. Unbidden, he took a step back. "Mark my words Neji Hyuuga," Naruto snarled. "**YOU. WILL. PAY.**"

**Now about the poll,**

**Standard: 3 votes.**

**Veteran: 3 votes.**

**Suicide: 1 vote.  
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**Keep voting and review!  
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	10. Chapter 10

**We go back to looking at the Mist sidestory for a bit, and Naruto displays a newfound ability.  
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Chapter Ten

As Tenzou and his lieutenant looked on, Kakashi finally put down the brush and inkwell he had been using for more than two hours to paint the binding seals on both Sasuke's body and the floor. The jonin then walked around and placed one hand on Orochimaru's Cursed Seal of Heaven.

"Fuuin!"

The two anbu focused on locking down Sasuke's body to prevent his movements from ruining the sealing process. The ink spiraled inward as the energies contained within beat back the corrupting influences of Orochimaru's chakra, causing Sasuke an enormous amount of pain. As much as he tried to scream however, his movements were halted. He could only sit there and give voice to the agony until the mark was completely sealed. When the two ANBU let go of his shoulders, the boy collapsed, unconscious. Kakashi wiped the sweat from his brow.

"Well, that's done."

The three suddenly heard a slow mocking clap. As they looked to the shadows of the room, they saw the traitor emerge.

"Well done, Kakashi-kun. I see Minato's skills live on, though you are far from his brand of genius."

The two ANBU tensed while Kakashi appeared to regard the man casually. "Eh, sensei is a tough act to surpass, unlike you."

The sannin smirked. "Now now, there's no need for harsh words. We're all familiar with each other, except for you, Uzuki-chan."

Tenzou's mind raced. Orochimaru had thought him dead with the rest of his test subjects! How did he-

"Tsk tsk, if I found out about the Kyuubi brat's bloodline, do you really think figuring out what happened to the survivor of my Mokuton experiments would be beyond me? Though speaking of the spawn of that yellow rat, I am most interested to see what potential he has. I would enjoy making use of that…"

Kakashi stepped forward, bringing his right hand in front of his right thigh. "What did you do to him?" His hand crackled and sparks began to fly from his fingers. "What did you do to Naruto?"

"I simply took what I needed to study his…what did the brat call it? Oh yes, Jouton. I see no need to inflict permanent damage on the only source of a bloodline whose potential rivals the great doujutsu."

Kakashi's eye narrowed. "What?"

Orochimaru laughed. "Surely the implications of young Naruto's abilities are not beyond the grasp of the great Sharingan no Kakashi?" he turned to leave only to hear the whisper of two blades being drawn.

"Do you think we will allow you to leave?" Tenzou growled.

The traitor laughed again. "You wouldn't if things were not as they are now. I have agents all over this village. You tell that old relic _Hokage-sama_ that if he interferes in the exams now, I will have Konoha destroyed."

Tora readied herself for a lunge. "You're bluffing. You don't-"

"Stand down!" Kakashi threw an arm in front of her.

Orochimaru gave one final cackle. "That's what I've always hated about Konoha: you are always too soft…"

*break*

Danzo found it curious to be called upon by his rival. It was even more unsettling that Sarutobi hinted at a possible use for the Root. That was the thing: in all the years since Root had been established by the Nidaime, Hiruzen had always heavily disapproved of Root. Wedded to ideals that Tobirima Senju eschewed in favor of practical, if somewhat extremist, solutions, his rival had made it a point to attempt to solve things using peaceful and upfront means, preferring trust to Machiavellian manipulations and constant suspicion. Were this an ideal world, Danzo Shimura would have heartily agreed with Hiruzen methods. But it wasn't, and his activities were needed to safeguard Konoha from various threats that could not become public knowledge. The destruction of the village of Hayashi no Kuni (Land of the Woods), the alliance with Hanzo to destroy the free radicals that were Jiraiya's unaligned students (which ultimately failed due to Hanzo's grandstanding), and the allowance of Orochimaru's plot against both Suna and Konoha by which he intended to find as many security leaks in the village as possible and plug them. They were actions which, at the end of the day, left a bitter taste in his mouth, but they were necessary to protect his sensei and his brother's, creation: the system of the Great Villages.

It was an ominous sign, for Sarutobi to not simply agree to, but to _demand_, his services. _What could possibly make Hiruzen so desperate?_

When he saw Zabuza and Haku in the office though, it became readily apparent. Due to his connections, he saw all the reports filed by shinobi on record. Kakashi's story had gotten his attention, but lacked the concrete proof Root needed to justify invading an allied nation. By the looks of things however, the hokage intended to give him proof.

"Hiruzen,"

"For once, I am glad to count on your services old friend."

"Indeed. From the presence of the Demon of the Bloody Mist and after seeing Hatake's report, I assume you require my Root to pay a visit to Kirigakure. I profess that I am curious as to what makes this so urgent."

Zabuza had heard rumors of this one-eyed cripple, how he had singlehandedly been responsible for turning a rout of Suna and Konoha forces by Iwa into a shattering defeat before the debut of the Kiiroi Senkou (Yellow Flash). Root's predecessor had, under this man, caused so much damage with so few saboteurs and spies that pretty much every damned village _to this day still lived in fear of the man_. _I am in the presence of gods,_ he thought to himself. It was humbling to know that despite his own status and reputation, both of these old men were legends who commanded the respect of the entire continent. _And they need my help_. It was a heady thought for him as he listened to the Hokage explain the proof.

"What would you have me do, Hiruzen? Give all possible aid to the rebel elements in Kiri?" The Professor nodded. "And do so without any trace. It goes without saying that this is a mission far too sensitive for any of the regular forces to undertake."

The Root commander frowned. "I hope you are factoring in Madara's own knowledge. He would have kept track of events as any shinobi should and he would suspect Konoha's involvement. Even the slightest insinuation would poison a chance for allying the world against the man."

"Only in the event of a failure would there be serious harm. With the support of Zabuza-san and whosoever takes the title of Godaime Mizukage, we will have diminished any effect such whisperings could have on a future alliance. In fact, it would work against Madara's purposes because the other villages would consider joining us to prevent such machinations against themselves."

Danzo was still uneasy. "You will forgive me if I do not quite share your optimism. I find that even in the best of cases, things can be overlooked."

Zabuza took the opportunity to chime in. "You won't have to worry on Kiri's part. I can promise you that."

The cripple sighed. "Very well. I shall make preparations. If you would please accompany me, Zabuza of the Mist, we must discuss some things."

After the three had left, Sarutobi looked at the Nidaime's image on the mountain. "I never thought I'd see things his way, but you were right sensei…"

*break*

Even though the preliminaries were closed to civilians, news of Neji Hyuuga's assault on his sweet-hearted cousin had spread throughout the village. Accompanying that was the fact that the demon container had stood up for the Hyuuga heiress and all but swore a blood-oath for revenge. Some dismissed Naruto's actions. He had been raised by order of Hiashi Hyuuga after all. It was possible that the demon brat was merely repaying loyalty to the father of the victim. Others, however, noted that apart from the clan head, the Hyuuga as a whole had disapproved of the boy, and yet he was willing to put his honor on the line for the girl. It wasn't much, but for standing up for someone else in the village, Naruto was beginning to change the village's opinion of him, whether the hardline haters liked it or not.

But the blond didn't care at the moment. He was waiting for the attending physician to leave the wardroom and allow visitors. Hinata's team and sensei stood in the hall next to him. Finally, fourteen hours after the fight, they were allowed in two at a time.

Kiba and Shino went first. Naruto heard Kiba through the door expressing his apologies that he wasn't going to be able to give Neji a beatdown himself due to his loss to Shikamaru. The blond would later ask if his friend had considered letting Kiba pass, and the Nara heir would say that Kiba would never have succeeded. The prodigy had decided that a missed opportunity would hurt the Inuzuka much less than the horrific loss he would have suffered at Neji's hands, and the failure to avenge his teammate. Shino hadn't said a word since his battle yesterday, but the incessant buzzing beneath his coat and the steady rage Naruto had felt from the insect user told him the boy was no happier than his feral teammate.

When they left, it was Naruto's and Kurenai's turn. They quietly entered, and Kurenai stood against the wall while the boy approached his unconscious friend. The jonin noted how gentle he was in touching her wounds, and hoped that someday Naruto would actually notice and return the girl's affections. Given how the village shit on him in his early years, the fact that he turned out decent was a miracle. He deserved someone like Hinata. Then she saw him place one hand on her forehead, and close his own eyes. The boy stood there, as if in a trance, for ten minutes, and then removed his hand. He then looked at her bandages, and whispered.

"I'm going to try something. Just bear with me Hinata-chan."

The jonin watched in curiosity, then alarm, as Naruto's hands lit up with light green chakra. "Naruto what are you doing?" she hissed as she moved to block him. The boy locked eyes with her.

"I'm trying to take away the pain," he said simply. The jonin thought to object until she saw in the boy's eyes a sincere desire to help. She stepped away and watched Naruto place his hands on Hinata's chest.

The effect was immediate. Blood returned to the girl's face and her breathing eased just a little. Her pulse monitor, which had been displaying weaker than normal pulses, showed stronger electrical signals. Muscles that the girl's body had unconsciously tensed in response to pain, relaxed. Hinata moaned through the respirator as Naruto pulled his hands away. Kurenai was awed.

"H-how did you…"

Naruto stared at his hands. "I…don't know…it just felt right…"

*break*

Hiashi sighed. _Oh Hizashi, look how I failed you_. He had never wanted his brother to sacrifice himself to appease Kumo, but his brother took the decision out of his hands. " 'I freely chose to die to protect my brother and choose my fate for the first time…' " the Hyuuga clan head swirled his cup of sake before downing it in one motion and pouring another, his fifth for the morning. "I should have told Neji the truth long ago," he berated himself. "I should have headed this off."

"And would things have been better?" a familiar voice asked him.

Hiashi didn't turn around. He didn't have to. He knew his father's voice anywhere. "Perhaps they might have been…"

"And perhaps not," his father rebuffed him. "What you decided in the past is in the past. It is set in stone, and there is no going back. What matters is now. What will you do, now?"

"Neji would not believe me if I tried to tell him the truth now. He would only consider it when he has been humbled. In all likelihood, Naruto Uzumaki will be the one to do that. I would wait until that time."

"And if the boy is not successful?"

"Then I pray that someone else will be."

*break*

Naruto was on his way to the training grounds to blow off some steam when he heard a voice behind him.

"Yo."

Whirling around, he snapped at the newcomer. "What do you want?"

Jiraiya took in the sight of the boy he hadn't laid eyes on for six years. If there was any difference between Minato and his son, it was the whiskers and the angry scowl on his face.

"I heard about Hiashi's daughter," the man said as he walked past Naruto, who turned to follow him. "It's quite a mess he's got on his hands."

"Why do you care, and who are you anyway?"

The man turned slightly and smiled. "Name's Jiraiya. I've been hearing a lot about you lately."

Naruto growled. "And I care why?"

Jiraiya bent down. "Look kid, I've been where you are. Being angry about it isn't going to change anything-well maybe for you, but it won't change things very much. You got more important things to worry about."

"She's my friend!"

The sage held up a hand. "And the hospital is doing their best to take care of her. The way I hear it, she'll live. Your big problem is facing your opponent. And why do I care? Sarutobi-sensei asked me to train you."

Part of Naruto's scowl vanished. "Really?"

"Yep."

"What about Kakashi-sensei?"

"He's going to be busy looking after your teammate. Someone's gotta keep an eye on that love bite my old teammate gave him."

The blond's eyes narrowed. "Orochimaru was your teammate?"

"I'm part of the Sannin, kid. Who do you think we are? And actually that reminds me: your pink-haired teammate told me you had a needle mark on your neck. You know what Orochimaru did to you?"

Naruto racked his memories, which were somewhat hazy from the Kyuubi's influence. "…I think he took some of my blood, and sealed a bit of the Kyuubi's chakra into a piece of jewelry."

Jiraiya swore.

"Why? What's so bad about that?"

The sage shook his head. "I'll tell you after the exams. Right now, we need to get you started."

"On what?"

"Proper use of the Kyuubi's chakra for one thing. Better control over your Jouton for another."

"How do you-never mind. But what do you mean about the Kyuubi's chakra? I've been using it-"

"You've been drawing on incredibly small amounts compared to its real capacity, and you've nearly lost yourself in it. The Kyuubi's chakra is enormously concentrated with malice. You haven't once handled the real deal. The seal on your chest is too tight to let any more than trace amounts leak out."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Trace amounts? But that gave me a huge boost!"

"The Kyuubi had an influence on you from a very young age. Your body is simply optimized to use even the smallest amounts very efficiently. Eventually though, you're going to need to use its chakra in the raw. I'm the only one who can handle training you for that."

The blond frowned. "So how do we get started?"

"First, you learn the water-walking exercise. Then we'll go from there."

"Water-walking?"

The sage grinned.

*break*

"AUGH FUCK!"

The white-haired man laughed to himself as Naruto fell down into steaming hot water for the umpteenth time.

"Having fun there, kid?"

"Fuck you-AGH!"

Jiraiya shook his head. This reminded him a lot of Kushina. The tomboy had demonstrated herself to be in possession of quite the colorful vocabulary until she stopped burning herself dropping in. He had learned about that while talking to her sensei at the time.

"Gah! THERE! HAPPY? I finally got this!"

His eyebrows rose. _Not quite as fast as his father, but still amazing for a kid like him._ "Okay. Now I want you to stretch your senses out and see how many people you can feel around us."

Naruto frowned, but complied. What was usually a simple exercise suddenly multiplied in difficulty. It was hard for the blond to divide his attention between staying on top of the water and feeling the emotions of people around him.

"You see how hard it is?" Jiraiya asked. "This is the first step toward using the Kyuubi's chakra: managing how much of it you allow to flow through your body while you are focused on something else. It's hard at first, but we have a month to get you up there. Now forget about sensing people, and try and fight me," The man stepped onto the hot water.

Naruto had the sinking feeling this would end badly for him.

*break*

The jonin from Suna glanced around cautiously before stepping down the alleyway. He then came face to face with Kabuto Yakushi.

"Orochimaru-sama sends his apologies for the sudden change in plans, Baki-san. There is a blond brat whose abilities would have jeopardized the invasion."

Baki frowned. "Surely one kid can't be that powerful…"

The silver-haired youth laughed. "Your youngest charge would indicate otherwise. In any case, it is not a question of how strong he is, but of his ability to detect our sleeper agents. Orochimaru-sama has pulled them back to enable them to bypass the brat's senses."

"Wouldn't it be simpler just to kill this brat?"

"Not when he is a personal patron of the Hokage, the Hyuuga clan head and Jiraiya of the Sannin."

The jonin frowned. _Great, more complications._ "Is there anything else we should know about?"

"Your own forces should keep their distance from the Great Wall until after our saboteurs remove their inner defenses. The push forward will, as discussed, be backed by Orochimaru-sama's summons."

He nodded. "I will inform the Kazekage of this."

"You do that," Kabuto smirked in amusement. "In the meantime, I have to dispose of an unwelcome guest. You cannot hide, Hayate-san."

Baki whirled around just in time to see a blur fly down the opposite end of the alley. "Damn!"

Hayate was chilled, and not because of his chronic health problem. What he saw, what he heard, someone had to know! Someone had to stop this! Someone-"Fuck!"

Kabuto blocked his path. "Going somewhere?"

Baki ran up behind the man just in time for him to spin around, unsheathe his blade and attack him personally. "Mikazuki no Mai (Dance of the Crescent Moon)!"

The man from Suna swore and ducked the first two blows before being caught in the shoulder by the third. Unfortunately for the Konoha proctor, the blow was too shallow.

"Nice try," he said, gripping the arm of the man before him. "But not quite good enough," and his fingers formed a deadly blade of wind.

*break*

It took three weeks, several headaches, four trips to the hospital and more sake than Naruto had thought was humanly possible to consume, but Jiraiya pronounced the boy ready for the next part of the exam and had damned near _ordered_ him to take the last week to rest up. Naruto had decided on the second to last day to pay a visit to Hinata. He found her in the company of her team. Kurenai had told Hinata what Naruto had done for her, and now the girl was even more shy then before about her crush.

"Yo, you alright?"

"H-hai."

"Well in two days, I'm going to beat the shit out of your cousin. He's going to pay for what he did to you Hinata-chan."

Hinata paled slightly, and for a moment her team was concerned for her health. "P-p-please d-don't hurt him t-too bad! I-I-"

Naruto frowned. "He almost killed you and you don't want me to beat him up?"

"H-he's been hurting…a-ano, I can f-feel it.N-Neji-niisan has b-been hurt f-for a long t-time…"

The blond clenched a fist. "Well he's taking it out on you, so someone's gotta smack him around and get him to wake the fuck up."

"A sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with Uzumaki on," Shino added.

"N-Naruto-kun…"

"He'll live, but I'm going to set him straight. You can count on that."

Kurenai knelt down and whispered into Hinata's ear while the girl watched her crush depart. "You're lucky to have him, Hinata."

Later that day, Hiashi would find himself greeted by a panicked Team 8.

**Next time is Neji's beatdown and Part One of the Invasion.**

**Naruto did NOT heal her. He lacks the medical knowledge to do so. What his chakra did was act like Morphine. It responded to his desire to help Hinata.**

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	11. Chapter 11

**The fight with Neji was one of the harder ones I've written as a fanfic writer. I'm not a martial artist, so it was hard to come up with a believable scenario. Hope you enjoy the fight.  
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Chapter Eleven

Before the first match, Jiraiya took his new apprentice to the side.

"Listen Naruto, I don't want you using Jouton on Neji Hyuuga."

The blond genin glared at him, and Jiraiya sorely wished he could step back though his position of authority didn't afford it. Getting turned into a vegetable wasn't high on his to-do list.

"Why?" he ground out.

"Do you seriously think you can control yourself and your bloodline when you're this angry at him? I will remind you that you were friends, and you are currently allies. You do not inflict permanent damage on allies." When the blond didn't alter his expression, Jiraiya tried another tack. "Your girlfriend asked you not to hurt him too much, remember?"

"Hinata-chan isn't my girlfriend."

"She has two X chromosomes, her body runs on estrogen, and she has a crush on you. She's a girl, and your friend. Hence, 'girlfriend.' My point is that she begged you, even though her cousin was the one who nearly killed her, she _begged_ you not to hurt him too much. By your own admission, you are fighting for her, right?"

This scored where the previous argument had not. Naruto looked down at the ground. "…yeah."

"Then aren't you going to honor her wishes?"

The boy balled his hands into fists. "But I know what she was feeling! Neji didn't care! He should know that all she wanted was for them to be a family! I want him to feel exactly what she felt!"

"There's nothing wrong with that. The point is that, judging from your mind right now, I can't trust you to control yourself enough."

"And how would you know?"

Jiraiya tapped his head. "Just because I can't sense emotions doesn't mean I can't see them in your body language. Look at yourself right now, and be honest. Do you really think you'd be able to keep yourself from doing serious damage to your old friend?"

The sage only received a scowl. He sighed. "Alright, I'll put it this way. I forbid you, on pain of death, to use Jouton on Neji Hyuuga. That's right: if you use it, I will kill you. The Kyuubi will have to be sealed again, and either I or hokage-sama will make the sacrifice to do that, and another kid will probably suffer even worse than you did, because you proved to be untrustworthy. They'll associate the next container with your disobedience. That next person's life will be even worse than yours ever was. You want it to come to that?"

Naruto glared resentfully, but didn't argue.

"Then you will follow my order. Understood?"

"_Hai_, sensei."

"Besides, I suspect Hiashi has a plan to deal with Neji after you beat him anyways."

Naruto brushed it off and stomped toward the competitors box.

*break*

At the urging of Anko, Kakashi, Tenzo and several others, Sarutobi had ordered a number of ANBU to establish central observation posts around the village and at the arena, with Jiraiya in temporary command. The Hokage himself would have to oversee the final part of the exams with the Kazekage. Little did all except for six people know, Orochimaru was impersonating the man.

"I suspect that today will be a most interesting affair," Sarutobi murmured.

"As I understand it," the fake Kazekage answered. "the main attraction is the battle between my son and Sasuke Uchiha. The rest is but a side affair to most."

"So it would seem," the old kage agreed, and then nodded to Genma Shiranui, the jonin proctor replacing Hayate.

The senbon-chewing jonin hopped down into the arena and addressed the crowd. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm pleased to announce the commencement of the Third and Final part of these Chuunin exams. Let's start it off, shall we?" And when the crowd had roared its approval, he continued. "First match, Naruto Uzumaki of Konoha vs Neji Hyuuga of Konoha."

Hinata and Kiba watched from the audience as the two rivals dropped into the arena. _N-Naruto-kun…_

Neji smirked at the blond. "So, are you to be my executioner Uzumaki?"

Naruto cocked his head with a neutral expression. "Is that your wish?"

"Hardly. I simply want you to see reason: the strong should not lower themselves to the weak."

"Ahem," Genma cleared his throat, wanting to get out of the line of fire as soon as possible. "Match One, hajime!"

Kiba clenched his fists. _Go on, Naruto! Rip that bastard a new one!_

Naruto pounded his fists together while Neji assumed the neutral stance of Jyuuken. He then stared as the boy coated his hands in purple chakra.

"Don't hold back on my account, _Hyuuga_," the blond growled as he crouched down low in preparation to spring, left leg forward, left forearm resting on his knee, right arm stretched backward, parallel to the ground.

The Hyuuga branch prodigy subtly prepared a counter, but did not respond.

Silence, then…

Naruto lunged forward. Two steps away from his opponent, Naruto spun left in a full rotation before swinging his left arm in a hip-to-shoulder diagonal. The chakra in his hand trailed behind, leaving a ribbon right in front of his body. Neji had waited until the same distance before launching his counter: a half-rotation to his right and launching a powerful Jyuuken strike with his right hand. Instead of flesh, he made contact with the ribbon of purple chakra, which burned his hand in the instant before it destabilized. Naruto, meanwhile, delivered an overhand slice using his own right arm as a blade. The trailing chakra behind it was a razor-thin wave that Neji's follow-up left-hand strike shattered. After feeling the effects of that dark chakra, he put an additional amount of his own energy into the second strike to keep from making contact.

Naruto continued the motion, launching a left reverse roundhouse that Neji bent backward at the waist underneath before spinning to the side for a breather. Naruto moved with the spin for another 3/4ths rotation before lunging once more, windmilling his right arm at the elbow once before attempting a clothesline maneuver. Neji slid his entire right arm and left hand underneath and pulsed his chakra upward as much as his coils could stand, while angling his head to the left, to duck under a blow that would have given him nasty facial trauma. Then taking advantage of the fact that the blond needed to reorient himself, the older boy spun left to attack his opponent, who turned to meet him.

Naruto used his right hand to slap Neji's right hand to the outside, then brought up his left arm to meet Neji's left knee, then struck his rival's left hand down with that same arm before attempting a right jab to the face. In that same movement, he slid his right foot into Neji's and when it was deflected, moved into a bodyblow and then a left backhand that forced the Hyuuga to step back and once again bend back at the waist to dodge. His follow-up right jab was caught in the other boy's right hand. Neji used the force of the punch to kickstart his secret technique, one he had learned only from observation and kept hidden from the main branch: "Hakkeshou Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven)!"

Hiashi, Hinata and several other observing Hyuuga were shocked as a dome of whirling chakra blew the blond away. That technique was restricted to main branch members! How the hell-! Tenten smiled in the stands as Neji revealed himself, shaking his irritated right hand, but otherwise untouched.

"I have to give you credit Naruto," he commented. "for forcing me to use my secret technique through pure Taijutsu. I've never seen that style before."

Naruto smirked. "You like? I learned it from Jiraiya-sensei. Toko Buyou (Endless Dance)."

Sarutobi's brow furrowed. _To learn that style in a month and utilize it so fluently…It seems Naruto takes after his father in more than his looks…_

Orochimaru frowned behind the Kazekage's mask. Damn, that fool of an old teammate was here? The odds of success for the plan just halved. Then he shrugged imperceptibly. That was really Suna's problem. His only concern was killing his teacher and preparing Sasuke. And he was pretty much already there, wasn't he?

Neji cocked a brow. "But even with that, you still have no chance of getting past my Kaiten."

"Oh I wouldn't need to," Naruto snapped. "if Jiraiya-sensei hadn't forbid me from using my bloodline. It's something that pretty much no one here except the jonin-sensei's and the people up there" All eyes followed Naruto's gesture to the Kage box. "can defend against. But since that ero-sennin told me he'd kill me-and no that's not a joke-if I used it on you, I'll just have to tear you a new one the old fashioned way!"

Neji narrowed his eyes. "Are you implying I'm weak?"

"Yeah, where it really matters. If I was allowed to use it, this would have been over in ten seconds."

Neji snapped. How dare he-! "Hakke Kusho!"

"Gah!" Naruto was sent back by a wave of air pressure. By the time he landed though, Neji was right in his face.

"Hakke: Shisho (Eight Trigrams, Four palms)! Hachisho! (Eight palms)! Ju Rokusho (Sixteen palms)! Sanju Nisho (Thirty-two palms)! Rokuju Shisho (Sixty-four palms)!"

With each successive call, the blows rained faster and faster. Naruto, having been caught completely off guard, simply couldn't muster any defense. The final blow sent him smashing into the wall. Hinata's heart figuratively stopped. "Naruto-kun!"

Tenten winced. Her teammate could really be vicious.

As Neji glared at the dust cloud, he saw a darkening figure step out. Naruto's clothes were a mess, and blood flecked his lips, but the boy was still walking. "What were you trying to prove with that?" Naruto asked as he spat a wad of blood.

Neji ignored the question. "You certainly don't lack a strong will if you're still conscious after that."

"Fuck you and answer, damnit!"

The boy snorted. "I seem to remember you asking why I despise Hinata-_sama_," he snarled. "You should be familiar with our clan since you lived with us for four years. You should know what determines the difference between the main house and the branch house. My father could have been the firstborn, and have been in the main house, but fate saw fit to make him second, relegated to the branch house and branded with the cursed seal! And later with the Kumo incident, my father was killed to guard the main house with no say whatsoever! If Hinata-_sama_ hadn't been so weak, she wouldn't have almost been kidnapped and my father would still be alive! He was sacrificed by the main house!"

Naruto scoffed. "So Hizashi-sama was the sacrificial lamb for an uncaring main house? Then why does your uncle feel guilty? You can't tell because you don't have my bloodline, but I can. When you said that, Hiashi-sama started feeling something like this: 'it should have been me.' How do you explain that?"

Neji glowered. "Don't you _dare_ assume to understand, Uzumaki!"

Everyone was completely unprepared for what happened next. A wave of killing intent blasted forth and Naruto drew upon the Kyuubi's chakra, forcing open the tenketsu Neji had closed. "**I've had enough of your bullshit!**" the blond roared. "**Hinata was too weak to not be captured? She was three fucking years old you bastard! You almost killed her for something she had nothing to do with except for being a victim! And I'm here to make you pay!**"

Even astonished as he was, Neji still managed to evade Naruto's absurdly fast charge, barely. _Kami, he's faster than Lee!_

Tenten's eyes had almost popped out of her head when she saw Naruto was apparently able to reverse the effects of her teammate's attack. Now her mind had just about shut down seeing one of her friends move at speeds well in excess of the now-handicapped teammate next to her. Meanwhile, Hinata was feeling a steadily increasing pain in her chest. Her breaths became gasps while Kiba turned his attention to her in concern.

Naruto landed on the wall of the arena with such force the cracks spiraled five meters out from his feet. Neji got to his feet on the other side of the arena and braced himself. As the blond launched off, the Hyuuga used Kaiten once more. The result of their collision was a massive blast that sent shockwaves through the audience. Hinata was startled enough to aggravate her internal injuries. In the aftermath of the clash, she folded forward while Kiba yelped and grabbed her. Only with the aid of the disguised Kabuto was she stabilized. As the dust settled, Genma tentatively peered through the cloud. Naruto stood hunched and ready to move again if necessary. Neji was sprawled on the ground, unable to get up.

"Ugh…"

Seeing that, the blond straightened up and moved to stand over him. "You want to know something? Even after what you did to her, Hinata-chan begged me not to hurt you too bad. That's right. She _begged_ me. She's wanted nothing than for you to be part of her family, and you did that to her." Naruto glared with scarlet eyes. "I should show you how she felt when you did that. I really should. But I promised Jiraiya-sensei and Hinata that I wouldn't." He dismissed the Kyuubi's influence and his eyes returned to their natural blue. "Be glad they asked me not to. The last person I fucked with needed mental therapy to get better after that."

When no more words seemed forthcoming, Genma decided to call it. "Winner, Naruto Uzumaki!"

And the crowd went wild.

*break*

Following the first match, the crowd was somewhat let down by the next two. When Shino's match came up, the black-clad genin from Suna, Kankuro, forfeited with suspiciously no good reason. In Shikamaru's matchup, the majority of the audience couldn't follow the mental chess game played by him and his opponent: the wind user, Temari. This was coupled with the fact that the Nara forfeited after he had, for all intents and purposes, won the match.

As the eldest sibling from Suna angrily stomped off, embarrassed, Naruto sidled over to his friend.

"What was that about?"

The pineapple-head frowned. "That guy, Kankuro, surrendered without a fight. Like he was saving his energy. All of the Suna and Oto representitives are acting like they're on edge."

"So you felt it too?"

The Nara nodded. "Something's up. And I'm also wondering why there are so many ANBU around."

"I asked Kakashi-sensei and Jiraiya-sensei. They both said it had something to do with the guy my team fought in the second part."

"I heard about that."

"Match Four, Sasuke Uchiha of Konoha vs Gaara Sabaku of Suna."

In the customary swirl of sand, the youngest of the siblings from Suna shunshined down into the arena. Sasuke popped up in the middle with Kakashi, who immediately to Genma for being so late. He took his place next to Naruto.

"Match four, hajime!"

"Hey Kakashi,"

"…yeah?"

"Remember what I said I would do if you were ever late again?"

Kakashi snapped his head over to Naruto and stepped away from him. "Please don't do that. I had a good reason!"

Shikamaru watched in amusement.

"Oh realllly…"

"I was teaching Sasuke something to get through that defense!"

Gai sidled up while Naruto frowned. "You can get past that sand? How?"

"Speed," Gai answered, for once sounding serious. "You could simply overwhelm the boy's response with speed. That is one way."

"But we saw what happened with Lee," Shikamaru mused. "I would think that it's just too dangerous to go that way."

Kakashi nodded. "That's why we went another route. Sasuke could also try to attack from multiple directions, but he doesn't have anything to do that with. That leaves only one final option, overwhelming force."

"My eternal rival, I hope you didn't teach him what I think you did."

As they looked down, Sasuke had recovered from the last counterattack from the stationary genin before lunging with a hand wreathed in lightning chakra at the center of the sand shield. He blew through it and hit Gaara in the shoulder, hard. Hard enough to leave a one-inch deep wound.

"AUGH! My blood!"

In an explosion of sand, Sasuke was thrown away. When the dust cleared, Gaara's arm was covered in sand, ending three meters away with a set of claws. Kakashi pointed as he spoke to Gai.

"With my student facing that, there really wasn't much of a choice."

Orochimaru frowned. _That idiot is going to ruin the plan at this rate! Perhaps I should start now._ He tapped a small talisman in the false kage robes. Within seconds, the audience started falling asleep.

Sarutobi's eyes widened before he turned to glare at the false Kazekage. "Orochimaru…" he growled.

The man ripped off his facial covering and leered. "Hello, Sensei."

*break*

A series of explosions rocked the village and two enormous snake summons appeared. Jiraiya cracked his knuckles. "Alright people," he called through the radio. "game time!" Get the civilians to the shelters and find the sleeper agents! Do it fast. I think we're about to have company."

*break*

Before Naruto could even think of falling asleep, Kakashi had grabbed his shoulder and disrupted his chakra flow.

"Naruto, clones, now!"

As his sensei was using his command voice, the blond simply obeyed.

"Now I want you to spread around the village and help the ANBU find the sleepers. We're under attack, and Orochimaru has spies all around us. Go!" While the clones sped away, Kakashi indicated the fleeing team from Suna. "Take Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru and Shino and go after them. Keep them from messing with the village defense efforts."

"Man, how troublesome," Shikamaru complained before Naruto grabbed his wrist and vanished.

The kage box exploded and ten figures flew up to land on the roof of the tallest building neaer the arena.

"I should have killed you the first time I had the chance," the hokage growled as he threw off the official robes.

"Too late for that now," Orochimaru taunted as his subordinates tossed aside their disguises and formed a barrier.

"I won't make the same mistake this time."

"Of course not, because you'll be dead!"

"That remains to be seen," Sarutobi rebuffed as he cracked his neck and knuckles.

**And the show's about to start between Master and Student, but we all know who wins. Next time: Naruto vs Gaara.  
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	12. Chapter 12

**Okay, in some of the latest reviews, people have been calling me on how Naruto, like in canon, is still protecting Konoha.**

**Do you really think that Sarutobi, who's pushing seventy and has DECADES of experience playing politics and commanding a village, can't manipulate an angry twelve-year old child into protecting the village? Get real.  
><strong>

**And for those who call bullshit on Naruto's turnaround with hating the village, have you ever tried hating people continuously when you have friends close by? I have. I hated one person in particular, but four years later I let it go because I just didn't see the point. I had other people. It's the same thing with Naruto. He's learned to let it go. It's not to say he'll be all nice to people, but he's learned to live above them.**

**Now with that out of the way, on with the chapter. Sorry if the ending is a bit of a letdown.  
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Chapter Twelve

With every face Naruto saw through his clones, he felt more and more useless. The spies his clones had helped the Konoha defenders to root out had been, for the most part, vaguely familiar faces that he could recall passing by nearly every morning. How in the world had he _not_ sensed something off about them? Never mind that only a week ago he had finally managed to keep his emotional radar active permanently (though considerably weaker than if he was focused on it).

The distraction nearly cost him as Sakura almost yanked his right arm out of its socket to pull the real Naruto out of the hail of poisoned needles coming from dead ahead.

"You may wish to focus on the here and now, Naruto-san," Shino commented dryly as the black-clad Kankuro came into view.

"You're not going anywhere," the puppet-user announced nervously. Naruto glared and released his chakra.

"Who the fuck says so?"

"Naruto, let me handle him," the Aburame said. "You take your team on ahead and eliminate the other two."

"Over my dead body!" the Suna sibling declared before Naruto suddenly grabbed him by the collar.

"That can be arranged," the blond growled before throwing him at a tree. "All yours, Shino!"

The insect user nodded before turning to face his opponent and calling out his kikachu. "You don't have any idea what my brother will do to them," Kankuro hissed. "He's got a monster inside of him."

"Indeed," Shino raised an eyebrow. "but we have ways of dealing with monsters."

"If Gaara lets loose, everyone here will be dead!"

"Then you shall precede me in the afterlife."

*break*

Sasuke gritted his teeth against the pain from the cursed seal. Seeing his home under attack made him angry. How dare they? How dare they attempt something like this? But the Cursed Seal of Heaven fed upon negative emotions. It pulsed in time to his heartbeat, whispering to him to take the power it offered. He drew upon Kakashi's lessons to subdue his emotions and focus on the task at hand. Their orders were to follow and neutralize that strange psychotic genin. He snorted. Easier said than done for mere humans like himself and Sakura. Naruto on the other hand would probably take him down easily with the same freakish technique he had used on that ice-wielding speedster. He could not have been more wrong.

Gaara had woken up, adhered himself to the branch his sister landed on with his sand, and threw her away. He then turned to face the Konoha team.

"You, you made me bleed! You will make me feel alive!" As he spoke, the gourd on his back crumbled and formed clawed limbs of sand around his body. "**Mother demands your death! She will have it! And then I will kill your teammate! He also makes me feel alive!**"

Naruto twitched his brow before looking at the blond wind-user. "Your brother has issues."

Temari hissed from the pain in her back. "You're telling me?"

Sasuke made a decision. "Naruto, I'll try and immobilize him. Sakura, hit him with your best genjutsu. We'll have to hold him still for Naruto to use that technique on him!"

Sakura glanced tentatively at the unstable genin. "Are you sure about this?"

"No time! Let's go!"

Sasuke had failed to take one thing into account: his plan assumed that Gaara was a relatively normal enemy. Due to the incredibly lax seal on the boy, Shukaku the One-Tailed was able to exert its influence and chakra independently of the boy's will. Following Sasuke's use of Chidori (One Thousand Birds) to sever the right side sand limb, Sakura had tried to take advantage of Gaara's distraction to land a genjutsu on the boy. Shukaku was not one to tolerate this. It flared its chakra and alerted the boy to Sakura's presence. _Mother wants her out of the way. Make mother happy…_

Gaara snarled and flung a mass of sand at the pinkette before using his tail of sand to swat Sasuke away.

"Eep!" Sakura yelped as the mass grazed her leg.

Naruto had the unfortunate luck to be in the way when Sasuke was sent flying backward.

"Oof!" As the blond pushed his teammate off his ribs, he coughed. "Yeah, I think that plan needs work."

"Go fuck yourself."

"I'll get on that later. Right now we need a new pla-AAAN! Shit that was close!" Gaara had lashed out, using his claws to shred the branch the two had been on seconds ago.

"How about you use that jutsu?"

"Yeah about that, something with him makes me really not want to try that." Naruto did not want to say what really happened.

**_Boy, you would be most unwise to do that._**

_ Kyuubi? What now you damn fox?_

** _As satisfying as witnessing your mental demise at the hands of the weakest bijuu would be, you do not have the mental strength to overpower the will of Shukaku, and I have no wish to be trapped in the body of a vegetable._**

_ How the hell do you know this?_

_ **Because I know **_**YOU_, you incompetent ape._**

Setting aside the fact that his previous chats with the fox were usually of the overly hostile bent, such as "**Come closer so I can rip the flesh from your bones,**" he thought the fox must have had a good reason for warning him off.

"And why not?" Sasuke demanded between dodges.

"Because bad things-well, worse things-will happen if I do!"

Sasuke snarled. _Great. Our best option for beating this guy is out the window._ He lunged into an opening, forming another Chidori and slicing through the tail of sand.

"**AUGH! YES! THAT'S IT! THAT'S THE STRENGTH! SHOW IT TO ME! MAKE ME FEEL ALIVE!**"

Naruto wiggled his pinky in his right ear. "Yeah uh, could you go a little louder? I think I can still hear in this one."

"This isn't the time for jokes!" Sakura snapped as she flew past, throwing an explosive kunai at Gaara's back. The boy simply turned and lashed out, pinning the girl to a tree. "Agh-guhough!" the girl coughed and wheezed as Gaara tightened his grip, before Sasuke sliced the last remaining sand limb off.

As he turned to face Gaara once more, he felt a sudden sharp spike in pain from his shoulder. "Gah!" The Uchiha sank to his knees, clutching at the seal as marks started to spread.

"**What's the matter? Where did your strength go? I will not be denied!**"

Gaara rushed at the incapacitated boy before getting punted in the face by the blond. He landed on a branch below while Naruto glared down at him.

"You know, I really hate going for quantity over quality, but I don't have a choice right now. Taijuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Mass Shadow Clone Technique)!"

Everyone was treated to the sight of more than one thousand copies of the blond. Each clone drew its fighting knife and enveloped itself in rage-induced chakra. Temari, Sasuke and Sakura were stunned.

"H-how many-?"

A wave of Naruto's descended on the psychotic boy, slicing apart every hint of the sand defense. The avalanche was soon broken up though, as Shukaku flared its presence and Gaara summoned a tidal mass of sand from below. The real Naruto was blasted away from the other jinchuuriki by a shockwave of chakra and sand. As he got back up, coughing, spitting and scraping his tongue, he saw his teammates pinned to the trees with sand, slowly being crushed.

"**COME OUT YOU BLOND PEST, OR YOUR FRIENDS DIE!**" Shukaku roared, since Gaara had relinquished control.

Temari was extremely uneasy when the blond's chakra signature shrank abruptly. In her experience with her brother, that was a warning sign. Then she and the beast heard him.

"That's it. No more playing nice. **YOU'RE DEAD!**" As Naruto screamed the last two words, he unleashed his compressed chakra and killing intent upon Konohagakure.

*break*

The enormous wave of killing intent and the chakra empowering it were felt by the Konoha defenders, and the aggressors from Suna and Oto. Naruto, in a moment of primal rage, instinctively used the most terrifying ability he would ever have in his life: what would later be called Kousen Keibatsu (Battle Judgement).

Linking minds with nearly everyone in the entire village for one instant, he fed his anger and hatred into all sentient beings. The fact that it was directed against the invaders made all the difference. He subtly influenced all of the warriors of the Leaf to fight harder and show no mercy whatsoever, while shattering the morale of the Suna and Oto shinobi. Chaos erupted in their ranks as they scrambled to escape the battle, overwhelmed by the fear induced from the unprecedented killing intent. Their only accomplishment, however, was in presenting Konoha easy targets for killing. The jonin of Konoha were able to resist this influence, directing others to avoid killing those who surrendered, and so the invasion did not turn into a total slaughter. But what had been a successful invasion had turned into a bloody rout, thanks to the rage of the blond pariah.

When the results of investigations into the phenomenon became public, Naruto would be held as a hero, for bolstering the village at a most crucial time. The majority of civilians would no longer hate him, but fear and respect him as the guardian that most shinobi had known the boy to be from the beginning. Word would spread, no matter how the elders tried to control it, of the boy's wonderous and terrible ability to grant total victory from the jaws of defeat. It would be _this very ability_ that Madara Uchiha himself would come to fear above all else. Where his father, Minato Namikaze, brought fear to whole villages, Naruto would bring victory or defeat to entire _nations._ But the price he paid for it would be high.

*break*

In the midst of his battle with his predecessors and wayward student, Hiruzen Sarutobi was caught off guard by the horrible mass of killing intent from a very familiar source. Orochimaru was also surprised, but he quickly fell back to his customary grin. "It looks like you now have _two_ bijuu to deal with," he taunted the man. "By the end of this day, I am sure that either the late Kazekage's son or Minato's spawn will finish what I started!"

The hokage set his mouth in a grim line as he readied Enma's staff form once more. "So be it, but you will not live to see the end of it!"

*break*

Jiraiya almost had a heart attack. _What the hell? Did the seal-no, that's still Naruto's chakra. What is going on over there?_

"I'm going to hazard a guess that would be your student, right Jiraiya?"

"Yeah."

"Well," the toad nodded toward the snakes they had been fighting. "tell him thanks for that the next time you see him. These snakes are really getting on my nerves." As the toad said that, he wound up a strike with his blades.

"I gotta write that down. 'Naruto, Gamahiro said thanks.'"

"Quit being a smartass."

*break*

Shukaku found himself face to face with an old enemy, Gamabunta, as an enraged Naruto had summoned the toad boss to the field. "**YOU AGAIN?**"

"Long time no see. Wish it were longer," the toad commented. "So what's the story, kid? Why am I looking at this sand rodent, and what in the world are you doing fighting him?"

"These guys decided to attack the village!"

"And you were ordered to take them down? I'm going to have a few words with Jiraiya about this."

"**FUTON: RENKUDAN** (Wind release: Drilling Air Bullet)**!**" The toad and his summoner leapt over Shukaku's attack, Gamabunta drawing his blade and slicing off a massive arm before landing with his back to the bijuu. "**ARGH!**"

"Quiet you! We're having a conversation," the toad snapped.

"**DAMNIT STOP IGNORING ME!**"

Sasuke managed a dry snicker while slowly being strangled with sand. "Wow, that thing has abandonment issues."

Sakura made a funny noise that sounded like laughter.

The blond took out an exploding kunai and charged it with the Kyuubi's chakra. "I've had-" he windmilled his arm back. "-ENOUGH OF YOU!" The weapon flew right at Shukaku's face and exploded with enough force to _slag_ the beast's jaw into glass. Any screams of pain became unintelligible.

"**GARRMMMBLLRGH!**"

"Thanks, kid," Gamabunta commented as he also turned to face the beast. "I was getting sick of his lip. Now how about getting rid of him for good? Who summoned him here anyway?"

"He was stuck inside some kid!"

"Ahh, so that's the unsightly blemish on his forehead. I thought he looked uglier than last time. You know, I have some acne remover right here. Seriously though, you'll have to take that kid out of the game. If I remember right, containers of Shukaku can't sleep, or this guy comes out. Give him a big smack on the chin, and this rodent problem goes away."

Naruto cracked his knuckles. "Be happy to."

Shukaku lashed out, stretching his arm like a ribbon in an attempt to kill his old nemesis. The toad leapt up again and brought his blade down on the other arm. "Go on, kid! Wake that bastard up!"

Grinning malevolently, naruto put all the force he could into an uppercut that landed squarely, as the toad boss told him to, on the chin. The force ripped Gaara's body out of the sand mass and the two genin rocketed upward. Naruto laced his fingers together and arched his back while Gaara was forced back into consciousness. "EAT IT!" And then he hammered the boy straight down.

"**GRRRMMMMM…**" Even with his jaw melted and solidified into a grotesque mass, Shukaku was obviously screaming in protest to his being contained once more. Then his body collapsed, leaving behind only a pile of sand and a large piece of glass. Gamabunta picked it up.

"Well, this will look nice next to my totem collection." He turned to see Naruto falling, with a mass of summoned clones to break his fall. "Well you seem to have things covered here. See ya round, kiddo." And the toad disappeared.

*break*

Seeing her youngest sibling rocket toward the ground, Temari raced forward in a panic to catch him, then leapt out of the way of Naruto's rain of clones.

"Oww…not to self…clones are not…safety cushions…"

Petrified of the genin who wasted her brother of all people, she found herself unable to move even through Naruto was NOT actively focusing his killing intent on her. When he got past the headache of his landing, he glared at her. "I don't have to take you out too, do I?"

Temari sank to her knees as the boy flared his presence. "P-please don't kill me!"

"Not really my style. I prefer beating the shit out of people who get on my nerves. Your brother on the other hand did a lot more than that." Naruto unsheathed his fighting knife and began flipping it around in his hand. "Why don't you give me one good reason not to kill him?"

"…ngh, how? How are you so strong?" Gaara moaned.

Naruto cocked his head. "Put him down," he ordered Temari. "What was that, short,red-head and crazy?"

Gaara had no words to describe the feeling the blond induced in him. He had never experienced real fear before meeting this kid.

"Oh, you want to know why I beat the shit out of you? In order of importance: I was ordered to, you pissed me off, and you attacked my friends. Mostly the last one."

His teammates landed next to him. "That's enough, Naruto. You beat him," Sakura said, hoping to reign in the blond's fearsome temper. "We should just let Kakashi-sensei handle them."

"After that big-ass thing I just fought, I'm really not liking that idea."

Sasuke glared at the two siblings. "Are you going to stay put, or does he have to slit a few more throats?" The blond girl answered by screaming in fear and falling backward when Naruto flicked a kunai past her neck. He held up his knife and grinned wickedly before the Uchiha lightly backhanded him on the head. "Put that away will you? They're not going anywhere."

Sakura walked over to the girl. "You'll have to excuse him. He gets a little crazy sometimes."

*break*

As the village outside mourned the death of the old kage, Naruto found himself standing in the tower with the three elders, Jiraiya, Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, Ibiki and Inoichi, reporting in and demanding action against Otogakure.

"So they killed Jiji and we're NOT going to get back at them?"

"There are other considerations to be made," Homura said replied dismissively. "of much greater import than seeking vengeance against an upstart traitor and his followers."

"But-"

"Naruto," Jiraiya began tiredly. "you have to understand that nations cannot operate on a personal level. Just because Orochimaru did this does not mean we can simply run off and retaliate. We have other things to think about, as Homura said. For one, we need to rebuild the village. For another, we should figure out how to deal with Sunagakure. Orochimaru can wait."

"In any case," Danzo commented. "he is a known enemy, and a much safer one than others we might have to deal with should we eliminate him."

"That's bullshit!"

"Naruto!" Kurenai scolded. Kakashi waved her off.

"It may be bullshit, but that's how the world works."

"They shouldn't be getting away with that!"

Asuma felt the need to add his thoughts. "Naruto, we're all feeling his loss. There isn't any one of us here who wouldn't like to go tear that snake a new asshole, but we have bigger things to worry about. Right now, the village is at a weak point. We have to rebuild and find a new hokage before we can do anything else, or the other nations might decide to attack us as well. It's just like Jiraiya-sama said: you can't run nations on a personal level."

Naruto threw up his hands and stormed out. Kakashi sighed. "I'll go after him."

After the door closed, Danzo coughed. "Now we should focus on Suna. How should we approach the issue?"

Inoichi sat down on a chair. "Well according to interrogations of the prisoners, Suna is in a really tight spot because the Wind Daimyo keeps outsourcing business and missions to us, and they're starved for finances. They were hoping to convince the guy to turn back to them by destroying us." Ibiki nodded in confirmation.

Asuma rubbed his forehead. "How did that guy get to be a daimyo? You shouldn't go destroying the main military power in your nation!"

Koharu furrowed her brow. "Well, we could try to solve this problem by making a case with the Wind Daimyo, or otherwise sending business to Suna. They were our allies before this unfortunate affair. Of course, in return, Suna would have to agree to make some reparations to the village and provide a small form of military aid as we rebuild. The villagers would be outraged if no punitive measures were taken."

Jiraiya nodded. "If we do that, they'll take whatever price we demand. It's better than the alternative for them. But Suna is low on military power. They might not have much to spare. Our people will be busy with the rebuilding effort. We still might need help from other places."

Danzo waved his hand dismissively. "That is no issue. When Mist is reformed, we can call in a favor with the resistance and ask for help from them."

"Mist?"

"A discussion for another time. We still have one more pressing issue: who shall we select for the Godaime position?"

Eyes turned to the sage, who held up his hands. "Hey, I'm no good for that. I'm the one gathering intelligence for Konoha."

"But you are one of the most qualified people in the village as it is," Homura reasoned. "Hiruzen initially wanted you to take over for the Yondaime position before he passed it to Minato."

"I wouldn't be a good leader, not at all…but now that I think about it, Tsunade would."

Inoichi frowned. "But she's cut ties to the village. How would she be a good candidate?"

"I must agree," Danzo cut in. "Her detachment does not speak well of what may happen if we place Konoha under her leadership."

Jiraiya shook his head. "I know she'll come back, because I know her better than anyone else here. If I can take Naruto with me, I know I can get her back here and agree to this."

"Why's that?" Asuma asked. "Is it because Naruto looks like her little brother Nawaki?"

"Nope. It's something else."

Koharu coughed. "And may we know what that 'something else' is?"

**And so far, only one person has guessed who the other empath in the story will be. With this, it really shouldn't be too hard to figure out now.  
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**Latest results for the poll on the story ending  
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**Standard: 8 votes.**

**Veteran: 7 votes.**

**Suicide: 2 votes.**

**Something else besides: 2 votes.  
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**Keep voting and review!  
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	13. Chapter 13

**This was a hard chapter to write, if only because I was trying to simulate a traumatized and scared veteran. Naruto meets Tsunade.  
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Chapter Thirteen

Five figures approached the Great Wall of Konoha: Zabuza, Haku, Danzo's two most trusted agents disguised as ANBU, and a woman with red hair. The two Konoha shinobi stayed silent, as was their wont while the swordsman and the lone female chatted.

"-honestly didn't know that so many people felt the same way about him. When did Ao join up?"

The woman giggled. "He was chasing after you all this time just to talk to you, but you always up and vanished. He told me 'With all the expertise as commanding officer of the Hunter division plus this white eyeball, I _still_ can't find one guy with an eight-foot sword! Some Hunter commander I am!'"

Zabuza grinned behind his bandages. "He shouldn't feel too bad, right Mei? No shame in losing to the best."

"Your ego is still as big as your sword, no doubt about that."

"Well speaking of big, you should check out Konoha. Sometimes, I look around the place and I wonder if some of the builders were compensating for something, like this big-ass wall here. Yo,"

Izumo and Kotetsu, the chuunin on guard, sported exhausted expressions. "Hey, welcome to Konoha."

Haku and Zabuza raised eyebrows. "That's funny," he commented as the doors started to open. "They usually check papers and shit right?" Getting a nod from one of the two escorts, he continued. "And guarding a fucking door shouldn't be hard. Why are they…" The man trailed off as the gates opened fully and revealed a swath of destruction, and cleaning crews hard at work rebuilding. "Whoa…we must have missed one hell of a party…this looks worse than my hangovers…"

Mei cocked her head and looked at the man. "I'm almost afraid to ask how bad they get."

*break*

Naruto dug his finger out of his ear. "Sorry, run that by me again? You want me to what?"

"I want you to come with me so we can get my teammate back here."

"I thought you said 'Konoha needs to be rebuilt,' huh?"

Jiraiya shook his head. "Naruto, we need a leader more than we need the village intact right now. Without a leader, we don't have a representative of Konoha in world affairs, and we become a target open to attack."

The blond glared at his feet. "We shouldn't have to be doing this! Jiji didn't have to die-"

"Everyone dies at some time or another. When people try to bypass it, well, look at Orochimaru. He's crazy obsessed with immortality, the way I hear it. The point is that death is a part of life. You can only accept it and move on."

The boy didn't respond. The sage sighed. "Look, I miss him too, but crying over him is not what he would want you to do. You're a shinobi. Act like one. Accept what happened and move on. We have a mission to complete. Are you going to do it, or sit here and bitch about how life isn't fair? The way I hear it, that's not your style."

Naruto growled, but sullenly rose to his feet. "Fine," he snapped. "let's do this."

"Cheer up. While we're looking for her, I'll teach you a new technique."

The only improvement was a slightly faster walk.

*break*

"Whoa," a blue-skinned man with a slashed Kiri hitai-ate commented as he and his partner looked over the village. "that must have been one hell of a party! Too bad we missed it!"

The shorter man took it all in without a hint of expression. "Our target is somewhere down there. Let's go."

He dropped down, leaving his partner, who shrugged. "Hmph, must have brought up some memories." Then the blue man followed.

*break*

Zabuza leaned back in his chair and whistled while Kakashi, Asuma and Kurenai explained the invasion. "Whooee, and I thought _we_ had it rough," he glanced at Mei and Haku.

Kakashi saw the opening and couldn't resist. "So did they," he chirped, indicating the other two jonin with his thumb before removing his hand from the table as a kunai slammed into the surface.

"What was that, cyclops?" Kurenai hissed.

Zabuza laughed and Mei smiled at the semi-frightened man. "You're too easy, Kakashi-san," she chided.

The man quickly eye-smiled. "That's what she said!"

Face burning, Kurenai fought the urge to grab a chair and throw it at the silver-haired jonin.

Across the street, two men wearing ohagi and long black cloaks with red patches listened intently as Zabuza leaned forward. "So where are the brats? Cleaning house?"

"Some of them," Asuma answered. "The rest are still in the hospital. I gotta say, that's the first time I ever saw Shikamaru actively fight. It's a start."

"That's the Nara kid, right? Family's lazy as hell?"

"Yep."

"Man, you got your work cut out for you."

"It's not all bad. The kid's mom is like a drill sergeant."

Zabuza and Mei shared another glance and smirked. "Dominant female in the house, eh? Boy's whipped."

Kakashi, against his better judgement, felt the need to make one last smart remark. "He's not the only one!"

Kurenai threw the empty bottle of sake at the man. "I swear," she growled. "one more crack about our sex life and I'll castrate you, and burn all your precious books!"

Kakashi poked his head back above the table cautiously. "Anko's rubbing off on you a bit," he mumbled as he retook his seat.

"And what about your team, cyclops?" the mist jonin asked.

The man leaned back. "Sasuke and Sakura are doing labor work here while Naruto went off with Jiraiya-sama to find the new hokage," the jonin frowned as he noticed two people across the street wearing full length cloaks stand up. "somewhere in Hi no Kuni."

Zabuza raised an eyebrow, but Mei grabbed his arm before he could ask. "It's them!" she hissed. "It's the group I told you about, the one that visits Yagura on and off!"

"Akatsuki?"

She nodded. Kakashi narrowed his eyes.

*break*

"We have company, Kisame," the shorter of the pair commented without turning.

"'Bout fucking time, eh Itachi?" the taller man turned to face the Konoha and Kiri jonin. He was surprised to see the latter. "Zabuza-sempai, didn't expect to see you here!"

"The feeling's mutual Kisame," Zabuza replied as he slammed Kubikiribocho against the bandage wrapped sword the junior swordsman wielded. "Konoha, he's mine. Don't get in the way!"

Itachi gazed at the pair dueling on the bridge before turning to look at Kakashi. "Sempai," he angled his head. "I trust you are well?"

"You two, don't look at his eyes!" Kakashi ordered the other jonin. "Watch his hands and feet!"

"Hmph," The Uchiha made no move as his former comrades prepared to attack.

The two swordsmen clashed repeatedly, neither giving ground, in both bladework and ideals. "Why are you backing him, Kisame? Why are you helping Madara Uchiha?"

The junior let out a wry chuckle. "He said he would create a world without lies. I'm simply interested to see how he'll do it."

"And backstabbing Kiri doesn't matter?"

Kisame laughed. "But Zabuza-sempai, backstabbing is our trademark, isn't it? That's how we're trained to kill our victims!"

Zabuza grimaced as he performed an awkward guard against a sideways slash. "Okay, let me rephrase that. Betraying Kiri doesn't matter?"

"I simply saw who the man behind Kiri really was, and worked for him. He was Mizukage by proxy anyway."

"So you knew! You knew all this time and you didn't do a thing?"

Kisame laughed, but the senior swordsman could hear a hint of bitterness. "What could I do? If he could control Yagura, he could easily control me. I went along to keep my free will."

Zabuza growled. "You should have fought! You should have helped free Kiri from his control!"

"But you've been trying that for years and look where it got you, sempai."

"Things are different now! They're going to change!"

Kisame shook his head. "But will it be too late I wonder…"

Kurenai arched her back in shock and surprise as Itachi impaled her from behind. "I apologize, Kurenai-san," he said as he withdrew his kodachi, allowing the woman to fall forward.

"Kurenai!" Asuma yelled, nursing a badly burnt arm as he rushed over. Kakashi swore.

"Damnit, take her and get to the hospital! Tell Gai I need help!" After seeing them take off, Kakashi turned back to his enemy and found himself locking eyes with Itachi's Mangekyo. "Aw fuck…

*break*

Naruto swore vilely as yet another water balloon popped, the chakra shell inside being too thin to contain the jutsu. "Come on, what the hell am I doing wrong?"

"Don't sweat it Naruto," Jiraiya answered as the pair entered Tanzaku-gai. "It just takes practice." The man ignored the snarled response and proceeded to the nearest bar. It took four tries before they found the target, a blond drunk and a dark-haired woman who was young enough to pass as the former's daughter.

"Hello Tsunade," The sage sat down across from the elder woman while Naruto stood outside the door, still practicing a new jutsu.

"Jiraiya, why are you here?" the blond asked listlessly.

"Well here's the deal: thanks to Orochimaru, sensei is dead. I'm here to bring you back to Konoha."

Neither the sage nor Tsunade's assistant flinched as the woman slammed her fist on the table. "I'm not going back! I just don't want to deal with this anymore…" a hint of tears fell from her cheek.

Jiraiya kept his face neutral. "Shizune, can you bring in the blond brat outside?" The younger woman nodded and left. "Look, Tsunade, you're not alone, not anymore. It's why I brought my new apprentice with me. I want you to see him."

"Why's that? Just another brat you're training to die for Konoha?"

"You'll see."

Naruto could tell something was off when he saw her. Her emotional presence was far greater than anyone else in the bar, and not simply because she was close by. He couldn't quite explain it though, there was just…

Jiraiya smiled. "You can tell, huh kid?"

Tsunade raised her head. "What am I supposed to tell?" She could feel something odd…

The sage jerked his thumb toward the door. "Mind if we take this outside? It's a little sensitive for a bar, Tsunade-hime."

Without a word, his former teammate got up and moved toward the door, shooting odd looks at Naruto, which he mirrored towards her. After they found a place to sit outside, Jiraiya let it out.

"Naruto, meet Tsunade, my old teammate. Tsunade, meet the only other person with empathetic abilities."

Tsunade's eyes widened. "Wha-?" She stared at him, then at Naruto, who simply had an eyebrow raised. "How-" then she noticed how similar the blond was to her dead little brother, and her eyes narrowed. "Don't tell me someone cloned Nawaki!"

Jiraiya shook his head. "Nothing that simple. You remember Kushina? This is her son. You can guess who his father is."

Naruto stared at the sage. "You know my family?"

"I'll tell you later. Point is, Tsunade-hime, your hypothesis from before is kinda proven. Naruto is the current container for the Kyuubi."

Naruto could feel a mix of emotions coming from the elder blond, while the black haired woman was almost totally confused.

"Jiraiya-sama, may I ask what is going on?"

Jiraiya chuckled. "Little hard to follow isn't it? Simply put: both Tsunade and Naruto can sense emotions."

Shizune's eyes went wide, before turning accusatory. "Tsunade-sama, why didn't you tell me anything? I'm your niece! I've been with you this whole time!"

Jiraiya answered for her. "When she first discovered her ability, she was scared-oh don't give me that look, hime. She told me about what she thought, and I told her I'd be there to support her whenever she needed it. Now, being that it was _me_, she might not have taken me that seriously, but at least I kept her secret, even from sensei, up until I thought he had to know. That was when Naruto's abilities came up."

Shizune looked at her mentor in bewilderment. "But why-"

"I'll tell you a story Shizune," Tsunade answered. "You know how I first got into healing? Sensei took us to the hospital for a check-up, and I saw people in surgery. I could feel how scared some of those people were, and I couldn't stand it. I wanted to help them. The first time my medical instructor had me heal someone with severe injuries, I could feel how happy and thankful they were that I was there to save them. I didn't know why at the time, but it just felt so good."

Naruto had long since decided to keep his mouth shut and listen, as he did when Shizune asked another question. "But why did you give it up?"

"The war," Jiraiya said simply. "Even someone of Tsunade-hime's talents couldn't save everyone. She told me what people felt as they died: tired, scared, and uselessly hoping she could help them pull through. It was torture for her. The same gift that brought her into medicine made it unbearable for her to stand it." He shook his head. "Personally, I think she might not have been overwhelmed if she'd had someone besides me and Oro-teme to lean on, like sensei. But she made us swear not to tell him."

"I'm a freak!" the elder woman burst out. "I can feel how people are when they die! Why would I want someone else to know that?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe because _we were a team_! We're supposed to help each other out!" Tsunade flinched at her teammate's words. "It kind of hurts that you didn't trust sensei, or really trust me. I was always here for you, you know? But the difference between us is that I'm willing to let things go and move on. You're just sitting in bars moping."

Shizune laughed nervously. "Ah actually Jiraiya-sama, she felt the need for a drink after speaking with Orochimaru."

The sage and his student narrowed their eyes. "Orochimaru is here?" Naruto hissed. Tsunade flinched again, caught off guard from the raw anger and hatred from the younger blond. "Where is he?"

"Naruto, calm down," the elder male ordered before turning to his teammate. "He wanted you to heal his arms, right?" the woman nodded. "Well let me tell you something, sensei used his life to seal the souls of your grandfather and great-uncle with Shiki Fuujin along with Oro-teme's arms. Keep that in mind."

"…why are you here, Jiraiya?"

"Well partly because Konoha needs a leader, and partly because I thought Naruto could help you. You do share the same abilities. His are just way more powerful than yours. Did you know he single-handedly turned back Orochimaru's invasion?"

"Wait, I did what?"

Jiraiya explained as best as he could. "I'm guessing that's why Itachi and Kisame came after you. Madara Uchiha, the guy behind the Kyuubi attack twelve years ago, heard about what you did and ordered those two to see if you were a genuine threat."

"That fish guy and the older version of Sasuke?"

"Yep. Anyway Tsunade, Naruto had much more influence from the Kyuubi than you did. It's probably why you're abilities are a lot weaker. He is the container after all."

Naruto frowned. "How is she related to the Kyuubi?"

"My grandmother was a container for the fox before you were."

"Your grandmother?"

"Mito Uzumaki."

"Uzumaki? Does that mean we're related?"

The woman laughed bitterly. "By marriage and by that stupid fox you have. Thanks to that thing, we both can sense emotions."

You know, if we can make the connection," Jiraiya mused. "I'm pretty sure Madara can as well. It'll only be a matter of time before he figures it out, and you'll be in danger as well Tsunade-hime."

"Remind me again who Madara Uchiha is?"

"One of the founders of Konoha, with your grandfather. According to a Kiri jonin, he's probably involved with this group called Akatsuki and the reason Kiri's been going through the Bloody Mist period. Akatsuki seems to be interested in going after the bijuu. Anyone with a connection to them will be a target, and that include you, Tsunade-hime."

"Why should I care?"

"Are you really going to let sensei down, or your family?"

"You had to use that against me didn't you?"

"Dan and Nawaki both wanted to defend Konoha. Sensei gave his life to stop Oro-teme and protect the village your family helped to create. You're going to just let Madara destroy it? It's one of the things we know he wants."

Tsunade looked away. "Anyone who wants to die for their village is a fool."

Jiraiya stood up. "You're a real disappointment, hime. Everyone close to you would be rolling in their graves. Hell, I bet sensei _is_ turning over under that headstone."

"You don't have the right to tell me that!"

Naruto stepped forward. "Well what about me? If I hear ero-sennin right, you and I are family, sort of. I'm a freak too, but I'm still going ahead and using my abilities to help people. What are you doing? Sitting in a bar getting drunk. You know sensei, is it really a good idea to have a drunk old hag take the hat?"

Jiraiya and Shizune were surprised that Tsunade didn't explode. She just stared at the boy. Deciding to make the most of it, the sage answered. "Well now that I think about it, no. I just didn't expect her to be like this. Whatever happened to the teammate I used to know? The girl who wanted to heal everyone around her? Looks like you're not the medic you thought you were if you can't heal yourself."

Tsunade looked at her lap and gripped the necklace she wore with her right hand. Naruto snorted and walked off, taking out another water balloon. The woman watched as it popped once more. "Is that the Rasengan?"

"Huh?" Jiraiya looked over his shoulder. "Yeah, I'm teaching him that. It was his father's invention after all."

Unbidden, a small smile came to her lips. "That blond runt, eh? Weird to think that I'm related to him now."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "You're considering it?"

The woman sighed. "Leave me alone for a bit, Jiraiya."

Shizune rose and bowed to the sage. "I'm sorry about this, Jiraiya-sama."

The man shrugged. "Well, it's a start. It's about what I expected to get from her. We'll be around." And the man walked off after his student, pretending not to notice his teammate's gaze following him.

*break*

Gai crashed through the hospital doors in a green blur and stopped in front of the nearest doctor. "This boy needs treatment!"

After taking a moment to orient himself, the man took the unconscious Sasuke from the jonin and commandeered a stretcher. Laying the boy on it, he raced to an unused room. "What happened to him?" he asked the jonin.

"The boy had a run-in with Itachi Uchiha. According to Jiraiya-sama, Itachi used an odd genjutsu on him. He's been unconscious since I took him from the post station near Tanzaku-gai, two hours ago."

The doctor raised an eyebrow. "Quite a feat to bring him back here in such a short time. Well I'll see what we can do, but I don't have high hopes. Since Tsunade-sama left, our abilities have become quite limited."

Gai nodded. "If only she were back here…"

**I hope I did a good job with Tsunade. For those of you wondering about her, she instinctively uses emotionally-enhanced chakra to heal people. She's done it for so long that her chakra is naturally greenish-blue. It's somewhat like Naruto's ability to take away pain, but it makes her healing jutsu much more potent because she knows what she's doing. Later on, Sakura's going to match her healing abilities, but without the empathy power to back it up. Really puts in perspective how much that girl surpasses her mentor. Tsunade does NOT have the ability to induce fear or rage in targets. She can subtly influence people, but only Naruto can actively force people to experience emotions.**

**Now with Naruto, has anyone noticed how Canon Naruto's ability to "change" people for the better seems a lot like an unconscious empathetic ability? Weird, huh?  
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**Vote closes on September 1st. Please review!  
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	14. Chapter 14

**Sorry this chapter took so long. I was busy getting ready for the fall semester. Enjoy!**

Chapter Fourteen

"I can't believe I'm actually agreeing to this…" the blond woman growled as they approached the Great Wall.

"I can," the white-haired sage quipped.

"Well you _got_ me to do it, so no surprises there. Remind me how you did it again? And why I seem to be unable to come up with a good reason _not_ to go back to Konoha?"

"You want a list? Well let's see: sensei's dead and you feel you owe him, Naruto's sort of your relative and a shinobi of Konoha, Oro-teme already used your great-uncle's jutsu once against us and would have sacrificed people to mock you and pervert the memories of Dan and Nawaki, but most importantly you know and love me, hime!"

"In your dreams, pervert," the blond medic muttered.

"And maybe you can't come up with a good reason because you were having too much fun double-teaming the snake with me," Jiraiya winked at Naruto ahead of the woman. The boy smirked and decided to add his own comments.

"You know, I've never seen anyone bend over and smile like that. It's like he was enjoying the experience of you two coming at him fast and furious. He didn't even blink when she pounded him on the ground."

Tsunade tripped in shock while Shizune looked horrified. Jiraiya was stunned for a moment before he collapsed and rolled on the ground, laughing.

"Oh man, that was a good one, brat! That was comedy gold!"

Then the looming shadowy figure of his flushed and enraged teammate hovered over him. "Think that's funny do you?" she growled, cracking her knuckles.

Later that day, Jiraiya would wake up in three distinct places: the women's onsen baths with a hole in the roof, Anko Mitarashi's personal training grounds with an angry kunoichi and her summons, and the hospital with memories to make any red-blooded male envious.

*break*

The day after the sage and his new student left the Last Senju to her own devices had turned into one of the most chaotic the woman cared to remember. She had spent a sleepless night thinking about Jiraiya's words, as well as those of the blond brat whose abilities far outstripped hers. It had set her wondering about her father, who she vaguely remembered, and her little brother. She remembered how her brother always seemed to know how to cheer her up and make her smile to a degree that it was unsettling. Had Nawaki inherited the same abilities? It was an intriguing question.

Then there was what the sage had said, that he'd kept her secret until he thought sensei had a right to know. It touched her. Jiraiya had always been the bumbling fool on the team who no one really took seriously. His absurd proposals to her were amusing anecdotes that had made her team…well, her team. She rarely took any of his promises seriously, and she had certainly not expected the man to keep the secret for well over thirty-five years, even from the man who was a second father to both of them.

Her thoughts then moved to Sarutobi. From Jiraiya's retelling, her sensei had fought her grandfather and great-uncle personally as they were forced to fight him against their wills. He had performed the same sacrifice that the sage's previous student had used to stop the Kyuubi, on her legendary family members. Her sensei had been forced to condemn himself and his mentors, her relatives, to eternal combat in the belly of the Shinigami, because of what Orochimaru had done.

And the snake had done more than that. He had sacrificed the young and innocent, as Jiraiya's copy of the immediate investigation of the battle revealed. It offended her that her former teammate would stoop to stealing her great-uncle's technique and perverting it into a human sacrifice ritual for his own twisted entertainment. Lives were not to be toyed with, damnit! Hadn't she spent the majority of her own career as a shinobi trying to _save_ them?

The day hadn't been any easier. Having made up her mind sometime while running her train of thought during the night, she had gone to meet with the snake and answer with not only a no, but a hell no. Her teammate hadn't taken kindly to her refusal, snatching her niece and holding her hostage until Jiraiya and Naruto had crashed the meeting. She had then witnessed first hand the boy's prowess with his abilities as he used a jutsu to abruptly strengthen Shizune's will to fight before charging at the newly distracted Kabuto.

That had been the catalyst as she and Jiraiya sprang into action against their former teammate. When they were finished, Orochimaru wisely decided to leave while Tsunade tended to Jiraiya and her newly discovered relative, both of whom had been knocked out. Her perverted teammate had woken up while she was directly over him and had immediately been sent right back into unconsciousness after he had the nerve to lift his face into her rack. As exasperating as it was, she smiled to herself as she worked on easing Sasuke out of the genjutsu Itachi placed on his little brother. It was nice to know _some_ things hadn't changed.

"Well," the cycloptic jonin commented as she worked on his student. "at least we know that Itachi hasn't been slacking off."

"You shouldn't be up, Kaka-baka."

Ignoring the rarely-used nickname, he shrugged. "Well it is _my_ student you're working on."

Tsunade frowned. "It feels odd that Itachi would have done something like the Uchiha Clan massacre. From what I remember of the kid, he loved his family and he loved the village. I don't see any reason for him to do that. Do you?"

When no answer was forthcoming, she turned to see that the man had adopted a stony-faced expression. "I can't say anything, not here, Hokage-sama."

Raising her brows, she shrugged and turned back to work. She'd find out soon enough.

*break*

Danzo waited patiently as his two agents finished their report while Zabuza, Haku, and Mei Terumi stood to the side.

"I see. So," he turned to direct his words to the trio behind. "the majority of Kiri chafes under Madara's marionette, and Akatsuki has direct dealings with the governance of the village?"

The woman nodded. "Occasionally, Yagura has called on them to root out resistance cells like ours. They are all powerful shinobi, because those cells they find usually turn into smoking ruins with no survivors. The bastard loves to parade their bodies around as a warning."

"And with someone like Kisame in the ranks," Zabuza added while nursing a raw patch of skin on his left arm. "I'm surprised that Mei's group hasn't been found out already. That bastard know a shit ton about hiding places in Kiri."

The cripple nodded. "What of your plans for after ousting the Mizukage?"

"We're going to clean up the place and find a new leader. It goes without saying that Kiri will owe you one for helping us."

"Who is likely to take over?"

Zabuza snorted. "I don't do politics and command very well. Mei's probably your best bet because her cell is the biggest one right now, and she's the undisputed leader. People ain't gonna argue much with a woman who can spit acid or lava."

Mei blushed. "I'm sure there are more capable people for the job, Zabuza."

"Really? 'Cause off the top of my head, I can't think of anyone else at the moment."

Danzo raised an eyebrow before turning his attention to another issue. "What aid can Konoha provide you with?"

"Manpower and expertise," Mei replied. "We're long on needs, short of hands. A lot of our people are genin and chuunin. We're working on training them up, but that takes valuable time, and Yagura could find us any day now. As a matter of fact, we're relocating right now. If we had the people, we could try and get him off that seat."

The elder nodded. "I will see to it that you have it."

*break*

Loathe though he was to say it, he had to admit that the one-eyed elder had been right. Konoha was much better off leaving Orochimaru alive. Jiraiya had told Naruto about his father, Minato Namikaze, and everything that the sage and his sensei had deduced with regards to the Kyuubi attack. Naruto's first question had been "What the fuck does Madara want with the Kyuubi?"

"I don't have a clue, but I'm working on finding that out. Look, what we do know is that he seems to have it in him for Konoha, like Orochimaru, but Oro-teme is working against him. Once upon a time, my old teammate was part of Akatsuki, the group Madara probably runs, and he cut off. He probably knows more about Madara and his plans than anyone else, and Madara would do well to think of him as a major threat. While Orochimaru is at large, Madara has something else to potentially distract him from people like you who control the bijuu. It's good for us, because it might buy us time to figure out how to deal with him."

"What about my Jouton? You said that Madara sent blue and fishy with Sasuke's brother after me to see if I was a threat."

"Naruto, after what you did to Orochimaru's invasion, you're basically an army killer. You turned a battle into a massacre by using your Jouton, and unconsciously at that. Madara would have to be a complete _idiot_ not to investigate your abilities, and we know he's not. But you are not going to be killing individual people with it anytime soon. You saw how well it worked on Orochimaru. Powerful and experienced shinobi are highly resistant to mental manipulation."

Naruto frowned at that. "So how would I get it to work?"

The sage shrugged. "Catch them off guard. Tail your enemy until you find a time where he's vulnerable, then smack him with it. There are other ways of beating opponents besides straight-up combat. Combat just happens to be the simplest way. Problem is that most of your abilities besides your emotionally-charged chakra are more useful for things like espionage and assassination, but that's not your style. You're the up-front kind of shinobi."

"Jiraiya-sama," Tenzo appeared. "Hokage-sama would like to see you."

Jiraiya sighed and got up. "Well, that's my cue. Why don't you go visit your team in the hospital?"

Naruto nodded as the sage left, deep in thought. Strong enemies would be coming after him, and he was nowhere near the level he wanted to be at. But he had a place to start. Sasuke's older brother, Itachi, was in the group after him. He decided to see if Sasuke had recovered and find out about his brother.

*break*

Danzo exited the hokage tower with a grim satisfaction. So he had been right. Now the question was what to do with the knowledge. Kakashi's recounting of the meeting with the two agents of Akatsuki was most illuminating, but it presented a couple challenges.

First and foremost, how to take advantage of this. If he knew the Senju heiress, she would require some damned good reasons to risk the livelihood of a Konoha genin-no, _chuunin_, the man corrected himself. The boy in question had proven himself to be of a level head in the exams after all, along with his main rival and teammate. But never had chuunin been given such an important undercover assignment. It was a pity the boy wasn't part of his own forces, but Madara Uchiha would not be fooled by one of his rote shinobi attempting to infiltrate Akatsuki.

Second was how to utilize new information. He grumbled. It was the age-old problem with intelligence. If he acted on information, Madara no doubt would have sources to try and find out what he was doing. If they caught him, the former Uchiha head might start wondering what information he acted on and go searching for his source. But if he didn't use it, he might as well not have it in the first place.

It was an interesting puzzle for him to go over as he made his way into the hospital. Jiraiya eyed him with suspicion as the man passed on his way out, no doubt from informing Uzumaki about new developments. When he arrived at Sasuke's ward, he was surprised to see the blond sitting there chatting with his more-dour-than-usual teammate.

"Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke," he said. "I trust Jiraiya has told you something of importance recently?"

Naruto looked at Sasuke, who sat on the bed staring at his hands. "Yeah, and broody here is still in shock."

A rare smile crossed the cripple's face. "I imagine so."

The blond stood to face him. "You know, you were right. With what Jiraiya told me, it is better that Orochimaru is alive. He still needs to pay for that mark on Sasuke's neck."

Danzo frowned. Yes, that mark needed to go away, if for no other reason than to eliminate the possibility of rogue influences within the village. It was not widely known, but the main effort behind cracking Orochimaru's cursed seal owed more to his own influence than Anko Mitarashi's insistence that someone "find a way to get this fucking love bite off my neck!" But for all of Jiraiya's expertise and his own knowledge of sealing, the mark had stood firm against all efforts to remove it.

"Hey…" Naruto muttered to himself, bringing the elder out of his reverie. "what if…that just might…" He looked up at the man. "I think I have an idea-"

"Do not say anything here, boy. This is not the venue for sensitive information. Follow me."

Were the boy anyone else, he might have been inclined to dismiss any suggestions out of hand. But Naruto Uzumaki was the most mature genin of his age as a requirement of his abilities, and he was taught by a Hyuuga retainer, a special operative division commander, and Jiraiya himself. Curiosity piqued, he looked forward to hearing what the boy had to say. It was interesting enough that he took no note of Jiraiya's not-quite-open hostility as they walked to the Hokage tower.

*break*

Sasuke was not quite surprised when four figures dropped in front of him, each bearing a mark similar to what adorned his neck.

"What do you want?"

"Orochimaru is prepared to offer you far more than Konoha will if you join him. Who knows? He may even train you to become stronger than your brother."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, and thought back to what he had been told just a week ago. "And if I accept?"

"Come to the northwest outskirts in two hours."

Two hours rolled by, and Sasuke had made his way toward the set location when Sakura came out of nowhere. _Damn it, I do not have time for this!_

*break*

Shikamaru found it slightly odd that his fellow chuunin and the only blond male in the room was receiving glares from the hokage and the tall white-haired man in the room. Usually, Naruto was on good terms with them. He put it out of his mind as Tsunade spoke.

"Sasuke Uchiha has left the village, possibly to defect to Orochimaru. Your mission is to retrieve him at all costs. Shikamaru, Naruto, you are the chuunin in command."

"What about opposition?" Neji questioned. Tsunade tore her glare from Naruto and focused on him.

"It's unknown, but we suspect you will be facing escorts from Orochimaru. They could well be elite fighters. Be prepared."

"Understood, Hokage-sama."

"Dismissed."

As they left, Chouji posed a question. "Why were those two pissed at you Naruto?"

The blond brushed it off. "Not important. We have a mission right now. Let's go."

Neji frowned as they took off. "A little clarification might be nice Uzumaki."

"Neji, after what you did, I don't owe you anything at the moment. And I don't have to explain what they're pissed at me for, because that's classified."

Shikamaru raised a brow. "Not like you to snap at people. What happened to Hinata besides, it's just a simple question."

"And no offense Shikamaru, but I don't want to answer."

The other three boys looked at each other, shrugged, and let it drop.

"We'll need to grab Kiba for this. I'll go get him," and the Nara split off, moving at a respectable pace for once in his life.

*break*

As Sakon and Tayuya finished binding the wooden crate with their package, Kidomaru perked up. "Company incoming. This might be a fun game."

"Not now you fucking dipshit! We should have been moving five fucking minutes ago if fatass hadn't needed a snack in the middle of getting this bastard's seal to stage two!"

"Tayuya, please, language?"

"Shut it, both of you," Sakon growled. "red-head and bitchy is right. We should have been gone already. Let's move it!"

Thirty minutes later, Jirobo and Kidomaru peeled off to delay the pursuit force, who were closing in with alarming speed. Then Tayuya and Sakon were surprised to see Shikamaru, Kiba and Naruto cut them off ahead. Without a word, Sakon kicked Tayuya at Shikamaru and tore past the boys with the crate.

"Damn you Sakon!" the redhead yelled as she bowled the Nara over.

"Great. Naruto, you and Kiba take him. I've got this."

The lipstick wearing boy swore as he sensed the two Konoha kids following him again. With the weight of the package, he found himself moving a second too slow to keep the barrel out of the way of Naruto's lunging rasengan. The wood splintered and cracked, releasing Sasuke onto the ground. Sakon growled as the Uchiha stood up.

"Sasuke,we're here to bring you back!" Kiba called.

"Get out of here!" Sakon snapped. "Go to Kabuto! I'll keep the trash from interfering!"

Without a word or a backwards glance, Sasuke took off. Naruto glared at Sakon. "Kiba, can you take him?"

"Who do you think you're talking to?" The feral boy smiled while Akamaru barked an affirmative.

"Oh, you're not going anywhere," the Oto shinobi growled as he lunged at Naruto. He was caught off guard when the boy was surrounded by red chakra and caught his arm.

"Get out of my way," the blond snarled, and then he threw Sakon over his shoulder at a tree before chasing his teammate.

_Heh,_ the lipstick-wearing boy smirked as he righted himself and prepared to fight Kiba. _It's a good thing Kimimaro's coming. He'll stop that blond runt…_

**Next chapter is wrapping up Part One. It'll probably be a serious mind fuck for all of you.**

**Someone wanted to know why I skipped the fight between Sasuke and Itachi, and other stuff like that. Unless I reveal what happens later, just assume that what I skip is basically the same as canon.**

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**Standard: 11 votes.**

**Veteran: 11 votes.**

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**Vote closes on September 1st. Please review!  
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	15. Chapter 15

**The end of Part One. This will explain everything.  
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Chapter Fifteen

Madara Uchiha seethed behind his mask as he pondered the report Itachi and Kisame had given him. Damn that beast! Damn the creature for making its vessel an empath! If that Uzumaki managed to use that technique of his at will, it made his ace in the hole worthless! No armed force would be of use against the boy, let alone the cursed nation his rival had founded.

"Unfortunately," the Uchiha prodigy continued. "we were unable to get close enough to confirm the Kyuubi jinchuuriki's abilities firsthand. All we have to go by are second-hand recounts from the villagers."

The swirl-masked Uchiha swiftly rounded on the twenty-seven year old. "Careful Itachi," he growled. "or I might suspect you are keeping something from me."

Kisame thought it a trick of his eyes. For the shortest of moments, the corners of his partner's mouth curled upward. Madara knew better. The boy was inwardly reveling at this development. The spirit he had thought crushed from forcing the boy to commit patricide was clearly rekindled.

He turned away and steeled himself. Well so be it. There was no hope in wishing otherwise. He would just have to find another way to crush the Great Five. _Hmm, perhaps that fool student of Jiraiya's will be of even more use…_

A Kiri message runner appeared in the darkened chamber. "Akatsuki-sama! The village is under attack by the rebels!"

Madara's head snapped up. "What?"

"They are led by Zabuza Momochi and some Konoha shinobi!"

With a roar of rage, Madara slammed his fist against the cave wall, pulverizing a section into dust. _Konoha…Danzo you son of a bitch!_

*break*

Jiraiya and Tsunade glared at the crippled elder, who remained unimpressed with their hostility. "I don't like it," the hokage snarled. "He's _thirteen_! He shouldn't be given a mission like this!"

"It is a rare opportunity that we have been given, thanks to Itachi," Danzo countered. "There are larger issues to consider than the well-being of one young shinobi."

"You might be comfortable with risking his life, but I'm not, and sensei wouldn't have allowed this!" Jiraiya retorted.

"Ah, but _my_ sensei would have," the elder noted. "Tsunade, your great-uncle ordered me to create an underground division that would handle sensitive tasks that could not become public knowledge, but were required to ensure the safety of Konoha. He would have made this decision in an instant if there was no better alternative. As to whether or not Hiruzen would have allowed this, I believe the fact he suspected the truth about Itachi proclaims otherwise as he remained silent about it."

Neither of the junior shinobi could come up with a rebuttal for that. "And Naruto," the blond growled. "what is he thinking?"

"Perhaps there is more of his father in him than anyone suspected. Minato was a student of the Nidaime's philosophies after all."

"He was MY student!"

"I merely offer an explanation, Jiraiya. You will notice that your late student did not force me to disband Root. He instead sent me issues that he could not publicly address properly. The Yondaime saw my work as a necessity, and so did Hiruzen."

"He's too damn young to be making this kind of decision," The blond snapped.

"Naruto was only proposing an idea to take advantage of the situation. Final approval rested with you. I only wish that I had thought of the idea in the first place."

"Of course you do…" the sage muttered.

"That is enough. I realize that you two do not approve of my methods, but I am doing all that I can to safeguard the village and the system that the Shodaime and the Nidaime built. I do not seek your approval, but neither do I wish to be at odds with you. We are confronting the most dangerous enemy the shinobi world has ever faced. Some risks must be taken. Uzumaki Naruto is living proof of that. To seal the most powerful of the bijuu into the body of a child is a terrible risk that the Yondaime took, sacrificing his own life in the hope that his son would help ensure Konoha's safety. I need not remind you that he also faced Madara, and perhaps knew better than anyone the threat the man now poses. Does his action with regards to his son diminish his commitment to the village, or expand upon it? I wonder if either of you would have had the fortitude to do what he did when faced with his situation."

Silence greeted the elder. He shook his head and turned to leave. "I suspected as much."

*break*

Kakashi stood at the center of what used to be the Uchiha Clan district, lost in thought. He had come here to put things in perspective. Itachi had astonished him with the truth.

*break*

In a flash, the surrounding changed. Kakashi found himself strapped to a cross with his former subordinate staring him down.

"Tsukiyomi," Itachi commented. "a realm of genjutsu. For the next seventy-two hours, you are at my mercy, sempai."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "Tell me something Itachi. Why did you do it? Why did you kill your clan?"

Instead of answering, the Uchiha moved forward and summoned a rock from the surroundings to sit across from his former superior. "This realm is beyond the reach of all except the caster and the victim. Madara cannot reach either of us here." He sighed. "I must apologize for this, sempai. Things have not been easy these past years."

"Madara is involved?"

"I am not surprised you suspected something, sempai."

"If you really wanted to kill your clan, you wouldn't have done things up close and personal."

Itachi laughed bitterly. "As I expected you to think. No, I had no wish to kill my family."

"So what made you do it?"

"The day I acquired my Mangekyo, Madara approached me. He had been keeping an eye on me for sometime, as well as the village. When he saw that I had elevated my sharingan to the highest, he knew he had a tool he could use. He gave me a choice: murder the Uchiha Clan and come with him, or he would destroy the village. I had to decide right then and there. He would never let me leave."

The former ANBU commander general frowned. "Why did he want to kill the clan?"

"Part of it was revenge for being cast out. He was against the idea of a union with the Senju clan, but was forced to go along. When he decried the alliance, he was expelled. But the other part was because he saw the sharingan in the hands of Konoha as a threat to his plans. If he could control the bijuu, and Shisui could develop Kotoamatsukami, other mangekyo could possibly form that might counter his abilities." Itachi paused. "And part of it was because he wanted to break me."

Unbidden, Kakashi felt a sudden surge of hatred for the former Uchiha clan head.

"He wanted to head off any sort of resistance I could mount to him by forcing me to slay my family. When I refused to kill Sasuke, he only let him live as insurance. If I ever stepped out of line, he would kill my little brother." The prodigy clenched his fists. "I've been trying to impede his plans as much as I can, but I have had little success."

Kakashi shook his head. "For what it's worth, you've been through hell, Itachi. I'm not sure I would have the balls to do what you did."

A single pair of tears fell from the junior shinobi's eyes. "And I pray that it will matter in the end, sempai. Please tell Sasuke the truth. Tell him that he is still my little brother. And," he stood up and brought out a sword. "please forgive me for this."

*break*

The enormity of Itachi's sacrifice was beyond him. He had shouldered the deaths of his family in order to keep the village safe. As he looked at the vacant buildings and remembered the liveliness that once occupied the district, the hate within him grew. He longed for nothing more than to murder the bastard Uchiha with his own hands. The man would have to pay for what he did. The former ANBU commander general took grim satisfaction in the fact that at least Konoha would be ready.

*break*

Naruto stared at the foot of his hospital bed, reliving what he had done. The events of a week ago seemed as if they were a bad dream. There was no denying the reality though. He had done it. What did it make him now, that he could-

"It was a difficult thing you did, boy," The blond turned to face the crippled elder Jiraiya had warned him against. "And choices like that do not get any easier as time goes on."

The boy resumed staring at his feet under the sheets. "He's my teammate. How could I even-"

"Logic is not something to be ashamed of. At the time, you saw the situation with perfect clarity and thought of a way to take advantage. That the solution is distasteful does not diminish the fact that you are protecting the village in your own way."

"…but I shouldn't be doing this. I shouldn't have-"

"Leaders must always make hard decisions, Naruto Uzumaki," Danzo cut him off. "I myself have made countless decisions, many of a vile nature. But I act to keep Konoha safe and secure. Sacrifices must be made, and a leader is expected to accept that."

"But I'm not a leader!" Naruto protested. "I'm just a kid!"

"You are a shinobi who has earned the rank of chuunin and the status of a hero of the village. Those who once decried you as a demon now look to you as a savior. Remember that with rank comes leadership, and with heroism comes loyalty. He agreed to this mission. Do not dishonor his loyalty by doubting him."

Naruto didn't answer, or respond in anyway as Danzo left the room. He was too focused on mulling over the elder's words.

*break*

After seeing the boy so despondent, both Jiraiya and Tsunade wondered if they had come down too hard on him. The woman could sense guilt and inner rage, signs that Naruto was berating himself for even proposing the idea just a week ago. For the sage, it was the dull monotone as the boy explained what had happened when he and Sasuke had fought at the Valley of the End. It was alarming enough that his pink-haired teammate hugged him and apologized profusely for asking Naruto to bring Sasuke back, mistakenly thinking that the blond's failure was the reason he was so down. On a tangential thought, he wondered if he could use the broken act to get Tsunade all over him like that.

"Naruto, don't sweat it. It's not your fault." The boy faced him. "We're not blaming you now."

As the two senior shinobi watched, the boy seemed to relax slightly. Now both of them were regretting the harsh words they had thrown at the boy.

"Hey, I'll tell you what, I'm leaving for a while to gather intelligence. Want to come with me and train? I can get you up to speed."

The only reason Naruto nodded in agreement was because he desperately wanted time away from the village to think.

Sakura watched as the two left the hokage's office. "Damn it," she muttered. "Even after all the training I did, I _still_ couldn't help Naruto! I couldn't stop Sasuke from leaving! If I had been stronger, maybe Naruto would have brought him back!"

Tsunade mentally cursed her sensitivity to emotions, and her pathological need to make people feel good. "Would you like to get stronger?"

"Yes!"

"Well, maybe I could train you."

The elder woman winced at hearing Sakura's neck crack loudly. She had no idea the girl could move her head so fast.

"Really?"

"But you better be prepared to take everything I throw at you."

The pinkette steeled herself. "If it means helping Naruto, I'll do whatever it takes."

"When I said that, I meant literally, Sakura."

The girl paled.

*break*

Zabuza stepped away from his latest victim and turned to face his former commander. "This is it, Yagura. This is where it all ends."

Yagura made no response except to draw his staff and surround himself in an aura of blue-green chakra.

"Careful," the mist swordsman warned the two Root shinobi next to him. "he controls the Sanbi. Water is his territory."

Both shinobi drew ninjato and channeled lightning chakra through the blades. "That will not be a problem."

It was apparent to all three that Yagura was struggling against himself, to slow his own movements. Zabuza's eyes soften for the briefest moment. _I'll end this, Yagura. I'll set you free…_

Then all four moved at once.

*break*

For Hinata, the sight of her crush looking so downtrodden was heartbreaking. Gone was the confidence. Gone was the posture that declared the boy would not tolerate being messed with. Naruto looked lost, and not in any good way.

From what little she had heard from Kurenai, the blond had been sent on a mission to retrieve his teammate with Kiba and several others. Her own teammate was still in the hospital, refusing to leave his canine partner. Shikamaru, the other chuunin on the team, had come back declaring the mission was a failure. She knew that Naruto hated failing anything, especially missions. Coupled with his teammate's defection, he was probably suffering enormously on the inside.

It was a surprise to Kurenai and Jiraiya that the shy girl ran and nearly tackled Naruto in a hug near the gates. For once, it was the girl who was offering some assurance to the boy instead of the other way around. Naruto stood, numb, as Hinata begged him not to give up. Seeing that, the sage really regretted how hard he had come down on the boy.

"Come on, Naruto. Let's go."

As Kurenai peeled a distraught Hinata off the boy, the two moved past the gates and onto the road. Naruto kept his fists clenched at his sides, flashing back to Shikamaru, Neji, Chouji, Kiba, and then Sakura. As much as he wanted to, he knew he couldn't tell people the truth. What was really getting to him was how he was risking his teammate's life.

Sasuke Uchiha didn't defect from Konoha. Sasuke Uchiha was an undercover agent of Konoha.

*break*

As Sasuke approached the base, escorted by Kabuto, he flashed back to the meeting in the hospital room. _Itachi lied. He really did love me as a brother. He's still my older brother. I have to help him._ Naruto had first proposed the idea for the plan, and then stopped, shocked at himself for even considering the idea. The blond didn't understand, _couldn't_ understand, why he had chosen to go along.

For Itachi to kill the clan must have been torture. His brother had given up so much for the village and to protect him against the traitor Madara Uchiha. Sasuke wanted to do anything he could to help his brother and get revenge for the clan against the man responsible. He was past caring what he would have to give up. It would almost certainly be less than Itachi.

Naruto had proposed that Sasuke infiltrate Orochimaru's village and find out what the snake knew about Akatsuki and Madara's plans. The success of the plan banked on the fact that Orochimaru had come to him and marked him. It would be of no surprise if he appeared to defect seeking power. It would remove Madara's leverage over Itachi and give his brother more freedom to move against the traitor while forcing Madara to focus on Orochimaru even more. The snake's ambition to posess the sharingan was known to all in a position of power. Madara would not like the fact that the snake could potentially reproduce the kekkei genkai and the Mangekyo that came with it.

That old crippled elder had been extremely impressed with Naruto's plan, praising it for simplicity and the degree to which it would not be expected by either Orochimaru or Madara. Once Sasuke had gained all the information he would ever get from the snake, he would dispose of the man and take control of Otogakure and all of the resources that comprised it. He would be in command while passing what information he could to Konoha regarding Akatsuki. Later, he might even be able to get into Akatsuki and deal with the traitor personally, since his apparent motive of getting revenge on his older brother was well known.

Tsunade and Jiraiya had not been impressed. They had been the first to object and Naruto had borne the brunt of their verbal beating for even considering this. "You can't risk your teammate's life, Naruto! What kind of Konoha shinobi are you?" Danzo had been quick to jump to the boy's defense, but Naruto had been struck hard by the reprimand. Sasuke had watch his teammate shrink into himself. Even his assertion that he understood the risks and was willing to take them along with the mission did not alleviate the boy's internal crisis. He had then turned to argue his case with the sage and the hokage.

"I have to help Itachi! Besides, Akatsuki is going to be coming after Naruto! What kind of teammate would I be if I didn't do something about that?"

"What kind of teammate will you be if you're dead?" Tsunade snapped.

"At least I'm not going to abandon my friends!"

"You don't have any idea how dangerous Orochimaru really is," Jiraiya growled. "and he's _nothing_ compared to Madara."

Sasuke jerked a thumb towards his neck. "I can take a hint."

"Sasuke…" Naruto murmured in a low voice. "don't do it."

The Uchiha faced the blond. "Sorry, Naruto, but I can't abandon my brother either. I'm doing this, and that's final."

Tsunade stood up. "No you're not, Sasuke Uchiha."

"You are letting your emotions get in the way, Tsunade," Danzo admonished. "We have gone over the risks of this plan for all to hear. Sasuke Uchiha is a shinobi of Konoha who is well within his rights to decide for himself whether or not to accept a mission like this. He has agreed to do so, and you should know that this mission is for the best."

"And it's worth pointlessly losing his life?"

Silence.

"Don't you _dare_ diminish this sacrifice, Tsunade Senju," Danzo said bitingly. "Sasuke Uchiha understands well enough what he is getting into. He is willing, like all shinobi of Konohagakure, to put his life on the line to protect the village. Will you be the one to deny his loyalty?"

The hokage had snarled to herself and stomped out of the hospital. In the days following up to the meeting with the Sound Four, Naruto had tried numerous times to get him to not follow through. It had culminated in a tougher than expected clash at the Valley of the End. Naruto had fought all out to try and dissuade his teammate. _Sorry Naruto, but I can't leave my brother._

"Hmm, what wrong Sasuke?" Kabuto turned to see Sasuke looking back in the direction of Konoha with an unreadable expression.

The boy simply turned back and resumed walking. "Nothing."

**Naruto is learning for the first time what the burden of command is. He's questioning what kind of person he is if he can, by proxy, risk a teammate's life. The fact that Jiraiya and Tsunade yelled at him for it doesn't help anything.**

**Danzo is impressed that Naruto had the capacity to do this. He's considering making Naruto his successor.**

**Only Jiraiya, Tsunade, the elders, Naruto and Kakashi know about Sasuke's mission. Everyone else believes he truly defected.  
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**Latest results for the poll on the story ending  
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**Standard: 16 votes.**

**Veteran: 11 votes.**

**Suicide: 3 votes.**

**Something else besides: 3 votes.**

**WhateverthefuckIfeellike: 6 votes.  
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**Vote closes tomorrow. Please review!  
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	16. IMPORTANT NOTICE

**Vote is now officially closed. As it stands now, standard ending is the winner with 18 votes. A number of you have asked for a Naruto-Hinata pairing. I will do my best to work that in.**

**Don't get me wrong though. I will not have it be like the shallowly written romances on this site. Naruto will be slow to reciprocate any feelings.**

**I am taking a short break to work out how I want the second part to go, so don't expect any updates for the next week or two. I also have to deal with college and finding a job, so bear with me.**

**Now if anyone else wants to write a story using Jouton, you have my permission to do so. Please just do me a favor and send me a message to let me know.**

**Also, I will be happy to beta read for anyone who wants to start writing. Again, let me know, and I will gladly help.  
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	17. Chapter 16

**I'm back. Now that I'm working through my third semester of college, I think I'll have to slow down the updates. Maybe once or twice a month. Bear with me please.**

Chapter Sixteen

The blond medic was surprised to find her teammate waiting for her in the tower when when she returned from her rounds at the hospital, helping her apprentice of three years to treat the girl's jonin sensei after a grueling mission to aid Suna.

"Jiraiya? Where's Naruto? Isn't he supposed to be with you?"

Once the words left her lips, she could sense emotional weariness from the white-haired man. What on earth happened these past years?

"You might want to sit down and pull out that sake bottle I know you have. This will take a while, and we'll both need a drink after this."

The hokage complied, taking the comfy chair behind the desk and yanking out a two-liter bottle of vintage 110-proof Kirigakure sake gifted from the new Mizukage and setting it on the desk with a thump.

"So, what's the story?"

Jiraiya sighed. "You remember the mission Naruto proposed?"

"How could I forget? I hate the fact that Sasuke agreed to do that in the first place."

"Well I'm beginning to think that it broke him. Naruto changed about a month after we both ripped him a new asshole for that, and not for the better."

Tsunade frowned. "What do you mean?"

"He suppressed his own emotions. Completely. You should know what that means, right hime?"

The woman felt a chill. As the foremost name in medicine in the shinobi world, she was intimately familiar with healing wounds and illnesses of all kinds, including the inevitable mental scarring present in veteran shinobi following the Second and Third Great Wars. Several of her patients had suppressed their emotions in order to continue their duties in those wars. It had the end effect of driving people insane or producing sociopaths who couldn't reconcile the logic of their actions with the morals. A number of shinobi had broken down, unable to deal with their actions, and ended up committing suicide to escape the pain of their own minds condemning their actions. At the opposite end of the spectrum, shinobi of Danzo's bent moved ahead to engineer vicious and horrifying atrocities on the battlefield and off it, in the name of winning the war. Extremism had escalated the wars beyond the control of mere village leaders until people such as Minato Namikaze culled the fighting spirit of their enemies and made them more receptive to negotiation. Having witnessed the cost of such things firsthand, it had instilled in Tsunade and her teammate a determination to operate the world in as peaceful a manner as possible.

"What made you think that?"

The sage grabbed his forehead. "Where do I begin? How about a blank face that I've been staring at for the last three years? Seriously, I can count on one hand the number of times he genuinely showed emotion for the entire time we've been gone. Guess who he seems to be taking after."

"Danzo."

"Yeah. That scares me more than anything else about him. Two months before it happened, that kid was chewing my ass about letting Oro-teme get away with killing sensei and right and wrong responses. Then he did a complete about-face. That's one hell of a change, hime."

Tsunade frowned. "Anything else about him?"

"Yeah. You know how your chakra and his both reflect your emotions? Well there's usually some color in them. Yours is green from how much you want to help people and heal them. His chakra used to be tinted with purple and red in a natural state. Now, it's colorless. Zilch. Hell, I can't even tell if he's using chakra at all now, 'cause I can't _see_ it!" The sage rubbed his forehead. "This kid's got me on the edge. I can't tell at all what he's thinking, and that is one hell of a scary thought when he controls the most powerful of the bijuu."

Tsunade came around her desk and laid a chakra-infused hand on her teammate's shoulder, and frowned. "When's the last time you slept?"

"Huh? Oh, about…damn, I can't remember."

The hokage sighed. "You," she squeezed the man's shoulder firmly. "are going to find a place to crash. I don't want anyone to see your face for the next forty-eight hours. Baka, you shouldn't stress yourself out like this."

"And who's going to look after the runt?" the man protested.

"I'm sure Kakashi and Inoichi will be up to the task. I've a mind to have Inoichi give him an evaluation from what you just told me anyway."

*break*

Kiba swore as their target, a foreign spy recently discovered within Konoha, dropped a tear and mustard gas bomb right behind him. "Gah!" He covered his sensitive nose with his sleeve while Shino grabbed Hinata and pulled her away from the cloud. The girl's eyes were stinging.

"Kiba, can you reacquire him?" the insect-user asked.

The feral boy shook his head in the negative. "I ain't gonna be smelling shit for a while until I get this stuff out of my nose. Urgh…" The boy sneezed violently and rubbed his nose. "Hinata, what about you?"

The girl finished dabbing her eyes with water from her canteen and made a half-seal. "Byakugan!"

A scream echoed from in front, answered with a flare of familiar looking chakra. Hinata's eyes widened. "N-Naruto-kun, he's-!"

"Fuck!"

The team raced toward the scene and stopped dead. Naruto stood calmly, holding his right hand out, palm facing up, a razor-thin blade of translucent white chakra extending a meter and a half from his fingertips. Impaled on the end through the sternum, was the spy, with a frenzied and wild look of rage in his eyes. At the mans' feet was his dismembered right forearm. Incredibly, the man was still trying to attack despite a severed spinal cord.

"You fucking demon spawn! I'll kill you!"

Naruto ignored his ravings. "Hey Hinata, weren't you just chasing this guy?"

The casual way Naruto referred to the man he speared through the chest threw team 8 for a loop.

"Y-yeah, that's the guy," Kiba answered for the Hyuuga heiress.

"Do I want to know why the hell there was a spy from Iwagakure in the village?"

Shino frowned. "From Iwa? How can you tell?"

"Damn you boy! Die!" The man somehow spat phlegm at the blond despite the chakra blade through his trachea.

Naruto angled his head. "That's why."

Shino raised an eyebrow, but decided to save his questions. "We were just assigned to capture him."

The boy swiveled his arm and dispersed the chakra blade, sending the man flying limply into a tree. The impact of his head against the bark knocked him unconscious. "Consider him captured."

Kiba shivered. This wasn't the blond boy he knew from the academy. He just permanently crippled a man, sliced his arm off, and ignored his death threats and not once did his expression change. _What the hell happened to you, man?_

Kurenai appeared just then. "There you are! Did you-what in the world…" Her eyes took in her apprehensive students, the body lying against the tree, and the blond casually rolling the severed forearm with his foot.

"Hello Kurenai-sensei."

*break*

"What the hell did you do to him?" the red-eyed woman demanded. "There's no way a kid should be acting like that after almost killing someone!"

"Hey, I didn't do anything!" the sage protested.

"Then why the hell is he traumatizing my students, one of whom has a crush on him?"

"Kurenai," Ibiki growled. "while I'm sure everyone shares your concerns about Naruto's mental stability at the moment, I'm going to have to ask you to shut the hell up or we'll never get to the bottom of this. I actually don't see why you're in here at the moment."

"Because my daughter is her student," Hiashi Hyuuga answered as he entered the observation room of the Interrogation department. "and I don't need her in a panic over the boy's well being."

'Scarhead,' as a number of interns had taken to calling the man behind his back, shrugged indifferently. "Whatever the reason, I need silence so I can oversee the evaluation. So if you please?"

The clan head nodded. "My apologies."

In the room below, Inoichi scrawled another observation on his pad. "And after that?"

"I realized that I was being stupid. My feelings on the mission Sasuke went on didn't matter. He chose to go, and nothing I did would change it. In any case, duty to the village comes first. He did what he could to keep it safe. I realized I would probably have done the same thing. There's always risk, but shinobi have to take their chances."

The Yamanaka sighed. "Okay. Let's talk about what happened today."

Naruto's expression didn't change. "What's there to talk about? He came at me. He tried to kill me. I chopped his arm off and disabled him."

"You impaled the man through the chest, Naruto. If you wanted to disable him, there were less…severe methods like nailing his leg with a kunai."

The boy shrugged. "He's alive isn't he? He'll be around for interrogation. Cutting his spinal cord makes sure he can't resist. It's more efficient. Besides, I really didn't have time to grab a kunai."

Kurenai shivered. "More _efficient_?" she parroted. "He's starting to sound like Itachi."

"I thought this would happen," a pained voice commented behind her, startling the genjutsu mistress.

"Didn't expect to see you up so soon," Jiraiya commented. "not after what I heard about your last mission."

Kakashi grunted. "Guess I bounce back faster than you thought, or maybe Hokage-sama is just that good."

Ibiki frowned. "You thought this would happen? Why?"

"I've been around Naruto long enough to be his second caretaker, after Hiashi-sama's retainer. I know him, at least I knew him before he went with Jiraiya-sama. Naruto doesn't make friends easily. When he does, he hates losing them. Get past that angry shell he puts around himself and you find a kid who'd put his life on the line to save you. Now understand please," he turned to direct his words to Hiashi and Kurenai. "this stays in this room." He waited for the nods. "When he suggested the mission that Sasuke went on, he wasn't thinking about the risks Sasuke would be running. Orochimaru wants his body as a host, and will stop at nothing for it. In the meantime, there's also the cursed seal influencing him. The way I heard it, Jiraiya" All eyes turned to the sage. "and Tsunade-sama came down real hard on him for even considering the idea."

"Yeah," the white-haired man admitted. "we both yelled at him for that."

"Well you gave Naruto a dilemma to deal with. You planted the idea that any danger Sasuke took if he went with the mission was _his_ responsibility, since he suggested it. As I said, he hates the idea of losing friends. He tried his best to stop Sasuke from going on the mission, within reason. He didn't use his Jouton on him probably because what Jiraiya said about using it on a fellow shinobi of Konoha. He was blaming himself for anything that might go wrong with Sasuke."

The lone female in the room frowned. "You act like you know how he's thinking."

"I do. It's how I used to think."

*break*

Sasuke sheathed his chokuto, and gazed at the many bodies strewn across the plateau. Nearby, Orochimaru slowly applauded.

"Well done, Sasuke-kun. You've truly become strong."

Inwardly disgusted at how the man casually consigned his subordinates to possible death at his blade, the boy maintained an outward disinterest as he walked off the battlefield.

"I'm curious though, why you didn't kill them?"

"No matter how strong they get, they'll never be a threat to me."

The snake user smiled as his protégé cast one final glance over the bodies. _All the better for me when it's time to consume you._ The progress the junior Uchiha had made was astounding. It was, dare he consider the thought, beyond what he himself was capable at fifteen years of age. The strength the boy carried was more than enough to make up for the continuous disappointments he experienced in trying to recreate that blond rat's bloodline.

It appeared that simply the chakra of the beast and the genetic predisposition was not enough. Many a cell culture copied from the boy's blood had displayed an abject inability to handle even the slightest amounts of the kyuubi's energy. No matter the permutation, their experiments were met with abject failure. Kabuto was becoming obsessed with discovering why that Jouton was so elusive. Admittedly though, he had assigned the medic the task when his own frustrations had boiled over.

The sannin didn't care though. The ability to determine emotions and manipulate them was something he had acquired through a careful study of psychology and body language as well as his unique 'leadership' abilities. Granted, it would have been interesting to have a more in-depth look at the mind, but life would quickly become _boring_. After observing reports from the failed invasion, he had decided that perhaps the brat's abilities were not as impressive as he first imagined. According to legend, Madara Uchiha possessed similar abilities. The Sharingan offered so many more possibilities. _Just you wait. Soon, your body will be mine…_

*break*

Kakashi sat across from Naruto in the memorial grounds. "Look Naruto, if there's anything you need to let out, now's the time to do so."

The blond frowned slightly. "There's nothing wrong."

"Bullshit," the man said flatly. "Look, I've been where you are. You see this memorial stone? I lost my teammate. His name's on here. Obito Uchiha," Naruto raised an eyebrow. "the guy who gave me this eye."

"What happened?"

Kakashi leaned back on his hands. "When I was your age, I was a by-the-book prick. The village comes first, take your chances, all that shit. My dad broke the rules one time, on a mission. He left to save his teammate, and he succeeded. The mission was a failure though, and it was a big one. The whole village hated him. He killed himself later." The jonin balled his hands into fists. "When I heard what happened, I swore I would never break the rules. I would always put the mission first." The man laughed bitterly. "Boy did that bite me in the ass. I had just made jonin, and this was during the Third Great War. Your dad and my team were sent across the front to destroy a bridge on Iwa's side. Sensei put me in charge of the team, and told me to handle the bridge while he distracted Iwa. My other teammate, Rin, got captured by the enemy. Obito…he wanted us to go save her. I told him no, that the mission comes first. He said 'Fuck you Kakashi, I'm going after her. She's our teammate.'"

The words were obviously painful for the man, if Naruto's emotional sense was any indication. "So then what?"

"Well, I followed him to save him from a trap the enemy set for us. After I got my eye slashed out, sensei came to help, but they started a rockslide. We saved Rin, but Obito got crushed under the rocks. Before he died, he told me he was giving me his eye, as a birthday present. He said it was all he could give now." A single tear made its way down the man's face. "If I hadn't been such a prick, maybe he'd still be alive."

"But he took his chances didn't he?"

"That he did. Sensei kept telling me and Rin that after the mission. It took me years to accept. Obito knew what he was getting into, and he still did it. But what I'm trying to say is this. I blamed myself for the longest time. I tried to get rid of the guilt by going into ANBU. I tried to lose myself in the mission. I tried to lose the pain. What I really lost was my humanity."

Naruto cocked his head. "Your humanity?"

"You have to understand this. The thing that sets Konoha above the other villages in the elemental nations is how much we value each other. The essence of the village is the people we want to protect. Yes the mission is important and yes risks must be taken, but we cannot forget about the people. Your bonds with your friends are what keep you alive. They give you a reason to want to come back. Sasuke chose to go on the mission. Don't just ignore him. Wish him well. Wish him good luck. Do the same thing for everyone else. Give them something to come back to. Don't just close yourself off to the world. That's what you're doing now."

"Friends can be weaknesses. If people go after them to get to me, what do I do?"

"Whatever you have to."

"That's not good enough for me, sensei!" Naruto snapped. "Look, Madara Uchiha is coming after people like me. Soon enough, I'll have to face him. If I have anyone close to me, he'll take them hostage! Then what? Do I just give myself up and hope for the best? What's to say that he wouldn't just kill them for the hell of it afterward? If I don't have anyone close to me, he can't do that! I'm trying to protect people! Don't you get it?"

This was not shaping up how the jonin wanted it to go at all. "Naruto, you're only torturing yourself."

"I don't care!" the boy yelled. "I don't want to lose anyone!"

"You can't save everyone Naruto."

The boy hardened his expression. "Well I'm going to try."

*break*

Tsunade closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair from the report. "What on earth was sensei thinking?"

"He was contemplating the well-being of the village, Tsunade," Danzo replied.

"Naruto shouldn't have had to mature this fast. He was just a kid! He should have had a normal childhood."

"That was out of the question. The nature of his abilities required that he get a good handle on them or a number of people were going to get hurt."

"Do you get what that did to his head?" the blond hissed. "Kids shouldn't have to watch people die like that! They shouldn't be thinking about big issues like politics and the greater good of the village! Sensei was the closest thing to a father figure for him, and he got killed! That's a traumatizing experience anywhere in my book! And the way I heard it, everyone just gave him the 'tough shit' treatment. No one held his hand and walked him through the trauma!"

"If I recall correctly," the elder commented dryly. "there were more pressing issues at the time like rebuilding the village proper. You are letting your emotions get in the way."

"Well excuse me for having a heart! I'm a doctor! I can't stand it when people are hurt!"

"And that quality is admirable in a leader. However, the fact remains that Naruto's rapid maturity was necessary to ensure that he did not endanger the village with his budding abilities at the time. I will be the first to say that things could have been handled better. But what's done is done. We have to focus on the present. For instance, how is Suna recovering from the kidnapping of their leader? And what of Mist's investigations into Akatsuki's movements?"

The woman grit her teeth, but accepted the point. "Suna appreciates the aid provided. They have put in a request for military aid. Mist hasn't had much luck in pursuing Akatsuki."

Danzo's mouth formed a thin line. "I expected as much. Madara was cunning enough to evade even our best for decades."

"They have found something about my grandfather's DNA. I wonder what that means."

"Perhaps Madara got ahold of Orochimaru's experiments."

"Maybe, but what is he doing with it?"

*break*

A number of plant-like growths erupted from the sides of the road and took on humanoid forms as a man in a black cloak with red clouds spread out a number of corpses from his scrolls. One by one, the plant-forms touched a body and became perfect replicas of them, complete with clothing and the hitai-ate of Kumogakure. The imposters, with a group of Kiri, Suna and Konoha rogue shinobi, sped off toward the village.

"What the hell are we doing, un?" another man in a cloak whined.

"We're doing what leader-sama wants us to do. That's all you need to know."

"I thought the Zetsu copies weren't ready yet, un."

Another plant-like growth emerged from the ground nearby, but black this time. "**Deidara getting on your nerves?**"

The man who summoned the corpses nodded. "Although, I would like to know why a bunch of my sleeper agents are being used for this. I spent a lot of time and effort recruiting them. It's going to be a pain to replace them."

"**Leader-sama wants them to infiltrate the other villages. That's all I know, Sasori.**"

"Hope he tells us why, un."

"For once, I agree with you."

**On the mission to save Gaara, the teams fought Itachi and Kisame instead of the two artists. Itachi and Kisame escaped, and Gaara was brought back to life by Chiyo as per her life transfer jutsu.**

**Suna kept the kidnapping mission a secret from everyone except Konoha, to save face with the world. This is going to have some nasty consequences.**

**I did my best to showcase the psychological trauma and how it affects Naruto. Just because he matured doesn't mean it didn't hurt him at a very deep level.**

**Please read and review!  
><strong>


	18. Chapter 17

**It took a while, but I finally finished another chapter. Madara's actions get some explanation, Naruto shows off a little, and Sasuke creates a new variant of Chidori. Enjoy!  
><strong>

Chapter Seventeen

The muscled white-haired man smashed his fist on the nearby wooden table, shattering it and interrupting the intelligence expert.

"Spare me the intricacies," he growled. "and explain how these…_things_ got into the village. While you're at it, maybe you can look into why they are here to begin with."

The shinobi nodded nervously. "H-hai, Raikage-sama. The intruders seem to have the ability to take on the form and chakra signature of others. There are small flaws, which is what enabled us to determine that something was wrong-"

"Oh, so it wasn't the fact that they were all impersonating _deceased_ Kumo shinobi?"

The shinobi cowered while a jonin with hair covering the left side of his face and a black tattoo on one arm put a hand on the irate kage's shoulder.

"To be fair, they were only _recently_ deceased, Raikage-sama."

A blond no-nonsense kunoichi snorted. "That's not an excuse, Darui. A shinobi should always be paying attention to details. As a member of the Intelligence division, this is unacceptable."

"That's cold, Samui. It's been pretty dull around here lately, what with there being no war going on. You can't be on edge all the time because that edge gets dull real fast. Mistakes happen. Besides, no one got hurt."

"No one got hurt _yet_," the Raikage snapped. "You only need to make one mistake before that happens. Remember that."

Darui shrugged. "Sorry."

"And someone needs to get the gate watch to pay attention to who they let in here."

"I'll get right on that," Samui said, bowing quickly before disappearing.

"Another thing about them is that a couple turned into trees when they were defeated."

Both senior shinobi frowned. "Trees?" Darui repeated.

"Hai."

"Is the transformation influenced by chakra?" The Raikage demanded.

"I-it would appear so sir."

Darui shared a look with his superior. "Mokuton."

"The bloodline of the Shodaime Hokage, son of a bitch."

"You're thinking Konoha, sir?"

"Who else had it? I wouldn't put it past that creep Danzo Shimura to replicate it, or that slimeball Orochimaru."

"Uh, Orochimaru isn't a Konoha shinobi anymore, sir."

"I know that! But he could have left something behind and Konoha repurposed it!"

Darui's eyes lost focus for a moment. "Well off the top of my head sir, I don't know why Konoha would do something like this. I mean, sure they're probably still pissed at us over the Hyuugas, but they had to rebuild their entire village and deal with Suna. There's no reason to invite more trouble than they have."

"Point," the mountainous kage admitted. "But these things just seem suited for reconnaissance and undercover operations like sabotage and assassination. That suggests someone like Danzo. He's not soft like the hokages' usually are."

"If this is a rogue op, this has to have some huge fallout, sir," the lazy jonin pointed out. "This kind of thing is casus belli. From what I know, that old guy isn't the type to start wars."

"Um, sir? As of the latest intel report, we've confirmed that the Mist revolution was accomplished by the rebels with the aid of Konoha forces, possibly Root."

The Raikage smirked at Darui's wide-eyed expression. "I'd say that what we know of that old bastard is obsolete."

"Apparently so," the jonin managed lamely.

The taller man adopted a more stern and serious expression. "They kissed and made up with Sunagakure, they aided rebels in Kirigakure. Now we have spies with Mokuton in our village. Coupled with the fact that all three have been stepping up on shinobi training, it's starting to look like they're forming an alliance in preparation for war."

"_Re_-forming, more like," the intelligence officer corrected before flinching under the man's glare.  
>"All this information is pointing that way," Darui agreed. "It seems a little suspicious. With their experience, this infiltration seems a little sloppy for Konoha. Maybe someone's trying to frame them?"<p>

"Like who?"

"Orochimaru, for starters. He _did_ have Suna and Oto join forces to try and destroy them, Raikage-sama."

The man frowned in thought. "That's going a little far out of his way for a personal vendetta, and it risks have us go to war with him along with Konoha and Suna. He may be an evil bastard, but he's also a genius. Plus, this isn't his level of work. We saw that in the intercepts from Suna and Konoha."

"It still doesn't rule out the possibility that this is a setup. Plenty of smaller villages or groups might have a grudge against Konoha, like Sora no Kuni, or-" Darui paused when he saw Samui running towards them.

"Raikage-sama!" she gasped. "Gate said that shinobi with Kiri, Suna and Konoha hitai-ate passed through last night!"

The muscled man's brow twitched in anger. "And _why_ didn't they report this?"

"They were…dealing with Bee's rapping."

Darui dropped his face in his hand. "How dull of them."

"My idiot brother and his damned-by-kami _rapping…_and foreign shinobi got into the village because of him. WHAT ELSE CAN GO WRONG?" the kage roared at the sky above. He immediately regretted it when three large explosions rocked Kumogakure.

*break*

For once, Danzo was being fully and openly honest as he was stared down by the reigning Hokage and the Daimyo of Hi no Kuni. "I assure you that I had nothing to do with the intrusions of Kumo and Iwa, my lord."

"You'll forgive me if I doubt your words," the man replied. "Subterfuge is your most prominent trait."  
>The cripple raised his visible eyebrow. "What on earth would I or Konoha have to gain from outright antagonizing our two most powerful public adversaries?"<p>

"You tell me. What would you gain?"

"My lord," Tsunade cut in. "as odd as it may be, I find myself agreeing with him. Konohagakure still hasn't fully recovered from Oto and Suna's invasion. Elder Shimura may use extreme methods, but I do believe he would think twice before attempting something this risky. It just seems too sloppy to be his handiwork."

Danzo cocked his head. "I'll take that as a compliment, Hokage-sama."

"You really shouldn't," the Daimyo retorted. "Your reputation already precedes you. I don't think you're aware of just how many thinly veiled allegations I receive from the other nations regarding your hidden forces, and how often I have to soothe battered egos from the other lords-"

"You have received no less than twenty-three complaints in the past two months, and you have sent out eighteen official notices to Sora no Kuni, Kusagakure, Takigakure and Tetsu no Kuni just to name a few. All such notices were sent promptly due to your retinue of agents observing the comings and goings of Konoha personnel."

Silence. "Danzo, I don't think that is helping your case."

"My liege, allow me to put it into perspective. In spite of your own impressive security measures, my agents were able to sufficiently infiltrate your office and relay that kind of information back to me. In addition, they were able to confirm that there are no foreign powers performing espionage in your office. My point is this: if I can do that, why would I resort to something so clumsy as this?" For added effect, the elder waved the two official complaints.

"I must agree, my lord." Tsunade voiced her reluctant support. "for all his faults, I believe Elder Shimura is better than this."

The man turned to regard her, and his face softened. "I believe you two, but other nations aren't going to take the word of a village that houses a man of your reputation at face value. Kumo and Iwa, I don't think either of them ever got over the defeat we and our allies handed them in the Third Great War. Onoki is stubborn and set in his ways, as bitter as ever. The young man who became the Raikage has all the hallmarks of a proud and nationalistic military leader. You are both no doubt aware of his fierce rivalry with Minato during the war. Hi no Kuni cannot afford a costly engagement with either village, let alone both at once."

Tsunade frowned. "We are allied with Suna and Kiri. Surely they will take that into account."

The Daimyo sighed. "They already have. Rogue Suna and Kiri shinobi were also part of the attacks."

Danzo's single visible eye widened while Tsunade gasped. "What?"

"Both the lords of Kaminari no Kuni and Tsuchi no Kuni were demanding to know if there was some sort of joint operation against their lands. They seem to think that, in light of our diplomatic activities of late and our increased mobilization, we are preparing for war."

"Are they insane?" the Senju heiress hissed. "We were rebuilding our forces to replace what we lost during the invasion! Of course we were mobilizing!"

"The Kiri rebels and Suna forces needed to lock down their control over their villages, so they were also increasing their training regimen to head off their vulnerabilities," Danzo chimed in.

"I am aware of that, but the secrecy between our three villages isn't helping our cause. The coup d'etat of Kiri was never publicized, and a few spies reported seeing your shinobi helping the rebels, Shimura. An outsider might conclude that Konoha was violating the sovereignty of another nation and installing a puppet regime for our own ends."

"That's not true!"

"My hands are tied, Tsunade. The way things are right now, neither of them will believe us. The evidence, as they say, is conclusive."

"It is too much so," Danzo mused quietly. "Mokuton beings, rogue shinobi from Konoha and our allies-"

"Wait, back up a second," Tsunade demanded. "Mokuton?"

Danzo met her gaze. "One thing that was left out of the accounts of both villages was the fact that some of the intruders were impersonating Iwa and Kumo shinobi, and that several transformed into trees upon being killed. That is what my agents have found."

"So that's why they were so quick to accuse us…" the Daimyo muttered. "I wondered why they sent that notice so soon after the incident. This is not good."

"It's worse," a new voice announced.

Tsunade turned toward the door. "What now Jiraiya?"

The sage pursed his lips in a thin line as he handed over a scroll. "Emergency report from one of my sources. Apparently, Kumo and Iwa have decided to declare war on us. They've just dispatched field units to Kusagakure."

*break*

To their ultimate sorrow, Kusa had nominally served as a buffer nation between great powers. Namely, Iwagakure and Konohagakure. With their sovereignty having been violated more times than a chronic rape victim, the village hidden in the grass was deeply suspicious of any and all foreign presences, and increasingly intolerant of any intrusions of their country. When scouts on the border reported sightings of a massed force of Iwa shinobi marching southward, Kusa immediately sent word to Konoha. Lacking the forces to counter any of the Great Five on the battlefield, they were hoping to pit them against each other, using one neutral element to counter the other. In addition, Konoha was slightly more trusted in that shinobi of the Leaf tended to avoid collateral damage whenever possible. Kusa would not be disappointed today, as Team Seven, Izumo and Koutetsu, and a six-man squad of ANBU arrived to deal with Iwa.

"So Konoha has sent the son of the White Fang to aid us?"

Under his mask, Kakashi smiled grimly. "And my students and some former subordinates."

The Kusa diplomat clapped his hands together in gratitude. "My village is indebted to you."

"We'll put that aside for now," the cycloptic jonin said dismissively. "What can you tell me about the opposing force?"

"They are small in number, about sixty-five shinobi at our estimate. At least three jonin hold positions of leadership."

Behind their masks, the ANBU frowned. _Lucky us, always on shit patrol._

Naruto cocked his head. "Are they doing anything to your lands?"

"Not yet, but they have been heading straight for the main village. We suspect they intend to level it, and decapitate our forces so their follow up force may pass through unopposed."

Sakura frowned. "Then we'll have to fight them out on the fields. If they get here, there's no telling what kind of damage they'll do."

"And how are we supposed to keep them away?" Koutetsu complained. "There's only eleven of us, and over sixty of them! They outnumber us more than five to one!"

"You will not be alone," a Kusa jonin replied as he landed next to the diplomat. "As it is our village, the ultimate defensive responsibility falls to us. We will handle any leftovers."

"That won't be necessary," Naruto announced coldly. "There won't BE any leftovers."

The Kusa jonin's amusement lasted only long enough to realize that all of the new arrivals took the blond teen's threat seriously.

*break*

"I rather liked this," Naruto commented as he tossed aside the shattered remnants of his faithful fighting knife, never taking his eyes off the somewhat deranged Iwa jounin who broke it. "Now I'll have to get a new one and break it in."

"You'll be breaking a lot more than a new knife in when I'm through with you, yellow scum!" the man snarled as he lunged, a rock-armored fist surging towards the blond chuunin. On impact, the rock armor exploded like a shaped charge, blasting apart the Konoha…body-armor?

"You're right," Naruto said as he decapitated the distracted shinobi with his chakra claws. "I'm also going to need to break in some new armor." Stepping off his opponent's body, he turned to face the now forty-some odd Iwa chuunin who had hung back while their elites clashed with the Konoha arrivals. "And what is with you people? I know I look like the Yondaime Hokage, and I know he fucked you over in the Third War, but you need to get over yourselves."

Two chuunin who tried to sneak up from underneath and attack found themselves grabbing an exploding shadow clone. One explosion later, the real Naruto was standing _behind_ the Iwa force. As they whirled around in a panic to meet his attack, the blond smiled inwardly. _This is too easy._

If it were anyone else, that Iwa jonin would not have fallen for such a simple trick. But Naruto played on the man's inherent hostility towards Konoha and his father, kicking that rage higher and higher towards the surface of the man's consciousness until it overrode the man's battle-trained instincts, and he lost himself in a blood-rage. Then it was a simple matter of selecting the right opening. All he needed was one.

"Save some for me, will you Naruto?" Kakashi called as he, Izumo and Koutetsu joined the fray, with only the faintest traces of blood on his sleeve.

"You're already a war veteran," Naruto replied. "Let me get up on the scoreboard some."

"Quit screwing around!" Sakura hollered at them as she backhanded a large chunk of granite at her two opponents. "This is no time for games!"

Naruto snorted in disdain as he countered an attack from two enemies by having them impale each other on their own blades. It was a sign of Sakura's sheltered training that she said that. War was all about games. Games to trip up the enemy, make him lose his cool, make him overconfident and so forth. Mind games are an inherent part of fighting. He was just making use of it.

Under Jiraiya, Naruto had learned to eschew jutsu in favor of physical combat. That's not to say that he didn't use it. Jutsu had its place after all, and was wonderfully useful in drawing attention and affecting morale. But for practical purposes and in most cases, the basics were the best. Jiraiya had taught him a brutal lesson early on about the reliance on jutsu that most shinobi had. Even thirty-two months after the fact, Naruto could vividly remember the pain of a geta-soled back kick to the gut when he had attempted to use a jutsu on his sensei. The sage had closed the gap between them and hit him in the time he had used to form hand seals. Later, when he was trying to uncurl from the stomach pain, the man lectured him on the samurai art of Iaido. In the time it took to form the seals for a jutsu, the samurai could land a serious blow with their blade. A shinobi could do something similar by forgoing the use of chakra and charging the enemy. If done fast enough, the attacker could reduce the confrontation to taijutsu, where he might have the greater advantage. It wasn't necessary to use chakra to kill a person. Gai and Lee were prime examples of that.

Nearly half a kilometer away, a pair of chuunin watched in horror as the advance element was obliterated.

"We have to get back and report this! Tsuchikage-sama must know about this!"

*break*

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Kabuto's intelligence report, but gave no indication of interest as he continued to work on a new technique, one of the few he allowed Orochimaru to see.

"So that brat of a Raikage and that old dwarf have declared war on Konoha eh? Interesting! How very unexpected!"

Kabuto waited for his master to stop laughing. "To be fair, my contacts report that neither of them is fully behind a new war, but they have no choice."

The snake sannin cackled. "Of course not! Those soft idiots are co-opted into war by public opinion. If they didn't fight, the people wouldn't feel secure. How could they if their leaders ignored attacks on their village? Clever indeed of Madara to do this."

Sasuke's control slipped and he almost electrocuted himself with his own jutsu. _Madara? Madara had something to do with this?_

Kabuto frowned. "But what does Madara have to gain from this?"

Orochimaru laughed. "Who knows? It will be an entertaining thing to watch!"

The Uchiha sleeper agent once more concentrated on his hand, knowing full well he wasn't going to be learning any more from their chatter. He enveloped his hand in lightning chakra, compressed a larger amount near his elbow, lunged at the middle of the five training dummies, and allowed his chakra to decompress.

The results were amazing. As he pierced the central target, his lightning chakra flared out in spikes from his arm, shredding the four to the sides and tearing gouges in the cave floor. As he skidded to a stop, he heard clapping.

"Marvelous, Sasuke-kun! A wonderful improvement on the Hatake brat's jutsu! Have you decided on a name?"

The Uchiha looked at the grounds, then at his hand, visualizing what had happened. Then he closed his fist. "Chidori, Heki Kirite (One Thousand Birds, Burst Cutter).

*break*

A man stared out the window into the rain, brooding on recent developments. The world was once again at war, once again moving to fight. But now, he reflected, it suited their purpose. This would be a good time for him to bring pain to all of the Elemental Nations, and reveal their foolishness. Then he chided himself. No, now was not the time. They still needed a weapon. They still needed the bijuu. He himself was a relative unknown. The bijuu on the other hand were instantly recognizable to any nation. They terror and pain they could cause would be greater than anything he could accomplish. In a situation such as this, with the turmoil of war, Akatsuki would be able to move in relative obscurity and capture the remaining beasts.

Madara was right. The setback in Kirigakure was just that, only a setback. Nothing that Akatsuki couldn't recover from. They now had a base of operations far and away more secure in Amegakure. Things were back on track, and soon his message would be clear across the world.

"You will know pain," he intoned. "You will know suffering. You will know fear. You will know the wrath of the Sage of Six Paths."

*break*

The Raikage crumpled the message from the Tsuchikage. Damn them! Damn Konoha! Damn them for forcing their hand.

"Darui, send an emissary to Otogakure. I want to have a word with Orochimaru."

**It's my first time trying to write out the politics behind a war, and drive towards it. Bear with me.**

**Sasuke's new technique is designed to counter the major weakness of Chidori: only one target at a time. Heki Kirite makes dodging a Chidori flat out impossible if you aren't using Hiraishin or the Fourth Raikage's Raiton no Shunshin. I really wonder why this sort of thing never occurred to Kishimoto.**

**Please read and review!**


	19. Chapter 18

**Sorry for the long wait. I was busy getting transferred to a** **4-year university. Here's the next update!**

Chapter Eighteen

Were the political situation not so serious, Kurotsuchi would have been laughing her ass off as she watched the confrontation between her furious midget grandfather and a sheepish Earth Daimyo.  
>"Sixty shinobi! Sixty of my battle-trained fighters! A full cadre of experienced veterans! GONE! BECAUSE YOU WERE STUPID ENOUGH TO FORCE KUSA TO INVOKE THEIR ALLIANCE WITH KONOHA!"<br>Unconsciously levitating himself so his obscenely large nose was level with his political superior, Onoki of the Twin Scales lost a great deal of dignity in the eyes of his granddaughter and son, who looked on with no small amusement at the sight of an 60-centimeter man screaming his head off at someone three times his height.

"B-but you have to understand, we were attacked, Onoki! The people demanded that we respond-!"

"I TOLD YOU TO THINK THIS THROUGH CAREFULLY YOU SNOT-NOSED BRAT! Setting aside whether Konoha and its allies were actually responsible, YOU DAMN WELL SHOULD KNOW BETTER THAN TO GIVE MY SHINOBI DIRECT MILITARY ORDERS WHEN YOU HAVE NO EXPERIENCE TO SPEAK OF!" Taking a moment to catch his breath and soothe a sore throat, the elderly midget continued in a quieter and much more dangerous voice. "Now thanks to you," he hissed. "Tsuchi no Kuni is at war with THREE of the Great Five, Takigakure and Kusagakure thanks to preexisting alliances! I don't suppose I need to remind you what happened the last time we went to war with Konoha do I? And well I shouldn't, because THIS little fuckup" the kage snatched the folder from his desk without looking. "is exactly the kind of thing that happened to us when Minato entered the field! Our men were slaughtered!"

"But this time, we have Kumo and other small villages allied with us!"

"And that completely negates the downsides of incompetent leadership does it?" the dwarf snarled sarcastically. "Get out of my office! NOW!"

In any other situation, Onoki's actions would have constituted gross insubordination. Here however, the Daimyo was too ashamed of his actions to even consider such a charge. As the man left, the diminuitive kage floated over his chair and settled back down. "Now," he muttered. "PLEASE tell me something went right today…"

Kitsuchi stepped forward and cleared his throat. "We've lost contact with one of our agents in Konoha-"

"Damnit, son! I asked for good news, and you give me the bad! What's wrong with you?"

"Given how we need good information, I'd say that WAS the good news, grandfather." Kurotsuchi chimed in. "We didn't get anything out of it. No indications of wartime buildup, until now. No idea why Konoha involved itself with the Kirigakure coup d'etat. Only a little bit on the joint mission with Suna and Konoha. Other than that, absolutely nothing we can use."

The old man slumped his forehead on the desk. "I don't even want to know the bad news, do I?" he asked in a voice muffled by the table.

"The Yondaime Raikage left to meet with Orochimaru."

Outside of the Tsuchikage's office, some shinobi with good ears heard two loud screams in succession. "GAAAAAH! MY BACK!"

*break*

Sakura glanced at her erstwhile teammate with no small trepidation. She had heard about what happened on his first day back from a significantly unnerved Kiba, but she hadn't quite believed that the blond had it in him to do it. After seeing his brutal and bloody efficiency in Kusa however, she had to face up to the fact that this was not the relatively open teammate she'd had before the Chuunin exams. Not for the first time, she cursed that chance of promotion.

Naruto took the time, while they walked back to Konoha, to practice with his new knife, courtesy of a Kusa blacksmith.

"How's that one working out for you?" Kakashi asked as he walked nose-down in his book.

"Good weight to it," the blond grunted in between experimental swings. "but not too much. The blade is tip-heavy, but balanced by the weight in the handle. Great edge, almost noiseless, but just enough to let someone know about half a second before you take their head off." He stopped, tossed it up a few times before sheathing it behind his back. "Hard to believe this is a stock blade and not custom made."

Kakashi shrugged. "It's Kusas' philosophy. Find balance in everything. Their way of diplomacy carries over. Everything has something for anyone."

"It's a little early for deep thoughts, isn't it taicho?" The actual captain of the ANBU team deferred to his former superior out of habit.

Sakura found herself being pointed out by her teacher. "I think Sakura would say otherwise," the silver-haired man replied with small amusement and a hint of disapproval. The pinkette had the grace to blush in embarrassment for her lack of attention to the road.

"Just look up every once in a while. You'll be fine. Naruto will probably detect anyone trying to get near us."

The girl nodded, and glanced up in time to see a Konoha messenger hawk circling above them before swooping down to land on Kakashi's arm. The man plucked the scroll from its leg, glanced at the contents, and then swore. "Fuck." He turned to the Anbu squad. "Take these two," he indicated Izumo and Koutetsu. "back with you. My team just got another mission."

"What's the new mission, sensei?" Sakura wondered as they set off in a new direction.

"Jiraiya located one of Orochimaru's active bases, and the man himself is there. We're going to investigate." Not two seconds later, the cyclops realized what a mistake it was to say that in front of Naruto when the blond's killing intent spiked and flecks of the Kyuubi's chakra peeled off him as they raced towards the base.

*break*

Ignoring all of his instincts screaming at him that this was a mistake, the Raikage and his two guards followed the glasses-wearing medic designated as Orochimaru's lieutenant into a large cave beneath a plateau. The pale traitor of Konoha stood waiting with the Last Uchiha. Sparing the latter a look of disdain for betraying his village, a huge black mark in his book, the man focused on the smirking snake user.

"Well well, haven't you grown up some?" Orochimaru commented.

"I'm not here for small talk, so spare me," the Raikage snapped.

His response was a patronizing smile. "I'm going to take this opportunity to guess that you want free passage through my lands for your forces, and a guarantee that I will not betray you to Konoha. I must say," his hand trailed lazily to the Kusanagi, drawing wary looks from Darui and Shi. "I find the latter implication somewhat insulting, Raikage-san."

"You'll forgive me if I don't take you at your word, Orochimaru," E responded with heavy sarcasm. "Your track record for alliances and international agreements doesn't exactly fill anyone with confidence that you'll keep to them."

Orochimaru laughed. "It's not your distrust that I find insulting, dear Raikage-san. It's the idea that I would help Konoha at all, weak as it is."

"I'm questioning your grasp on reality if you honestly think Konoha is weak," the man muttered to himself. "Will you give us free passage?"

More cackling. "Hardly, Raikage-san. I require something in return. I want to review the medical records and war journals of your village from the second and third wars. If you give me those, I'll grant you passage and throw in a little something about those wooden infiltrators."

"No deal. You're after village secrets."

The snake user grinned. "Did you really expect any less? You have something I want, and I can give you what you want. It's a simple bargain."

The Raikage growled. "I'm going to explain something to you, snake. Kumo is right behind Konoha in terms of military power. I don't necessarily need your cooperation to get my forces in to attack Konoha. You lost out to a few good shinobi from your own village. How would you like to feel a full scale assault from MY village? Or how'd you like it if I simply told Konoha where you are right now?"

The three visitors from Kumo were caught flat-footed by the enormous surge of killing intent, and the tallest found himself staring down the point of the Kusanagi. "Need I remind you," Orochimaru calmly replied. "of whom you're speaking to? If I recall correctly, Minato-kun could have killed you any number of times during the Third War, and I once competed with him for the title of Hokage. I have re-learned my lesson from my little escapade in Konoha three years ago. Do you really want to test me, Raikage-san?"

Sasuke flared his chakra and made a show of readying a chidori. Tempting as it might have been to end Orochimaru's life here and now, he hadn't obtained everything Danzo and Tsunade wanted him to. He still needed the snake bastard alive.

Darui managed to break the paralysis and place a hand on his leader's shoulder. "Raikage-sama, dull as it is, this is his turf. We came here just to make a request, not to pick a fight with someone else."

Orochimaru grinned as the Raikage backed down. "I'll make this better for you, and tell you something about those leafy invaders if you give me what I want."

There was a blur as the Raikage lunged and smashed Orochimaru in the stomach, only to reveal that he'd really attacked a mud clone. "What do you know about them?" he snarled as he turned to face the real snake user, near the far wall. "TELL ME!"

"Ah ah ahh," the snake shook a finger. "You'll only get that if you make the deal, Raikage-san."

The man growled. "My village was attacked by these things. Forty of my people are dead, and two hundred and sixty of them are hospitalized. If you aren't going to tell me RIGHT NOW who was responsible for that, I will kill you where you stand!" The man was suddenly smashed into the ground as the snake traitor landed on him and rammed the Kusanagi into the rock next to his head.

"Poor E. So unimaginative that you'd make the exact same threat I've already heard hundreds of times from Konoha. Many have tried. All have failed. Will you simply be the next, and leave your village without its strongest fighter? Or will you listen to reason and make the deal?"

The only reason Darui and Shi hadn't attacked Orochimaru was simply because Sasuke held the Storm Element user in a bladelock, and Shi was facing down Kabuto.

*break*

Tenzo and Sai, one of Danzo's finest agents, warily kept their distance from the base as they waited for the three remaining members of Team Seven to arrive.

"Taicho, movement near the entrance."

The current ANBU captain pulled his field glasses and focused on the landmark, seeing three slightly disheveled Kumo shinobi emerging. As one, both Konoha shinobi sent chakra to their ears.

"I don't like it either, Raikage-sama, but the threat isn't very significant."

The shorter dark-skinned man turned toward the only white person of the trio. "Why's that?"

"Simple. Most of the data in those journals is outdated and on clans and bloodlines that no longer exist. Our best medical experts and geneticists have been trying to revive them, failed. The likelihood that Orochimaru can succeed is nonexistent."

"The current Hokage was his teammate, and she's the best medical shinobi in the world. He might have picked something up."

"Darui, we actually HAVE the bodies left over and we still can't do it. Orochimaru doesn't have access to the bodies. It's just not possible for him to do it without them. In any case, I'm a bit more concerned with this 'Akatsuki.'"

The Raikage growled. "Let's save this discussion for when we get back to the village."

"Hai."

Sai furrowed his brow behind his mask. "With respect, taicho, it sounds like Kumo has made a deal with Orochimaru."

Tenzo frowned. "Not good news."

"Nope, it's not," Kakashi cut in, scaring the crap out of the two as his gaze lingered on the retreating Kumo jonin. "but we'll deal with that later. Let's move. Naruto, with me."

*break*

Sai opened his eyes after feeling his ink creation die, inwardly satisfied that Sasuke had acknowledged his new orders. Tenzo was aware that Danzo had new orders for the boy, but would probably not appreciate the Root agent's secondary goals. In the event that Sasuke had gone rogue, a strong possibility given the Cursed Seal and Orochimaru's penchant for psychological manipulation, his own orders would have been to terminate and erase the Uchiha's body using a special seal bomb of the type his own commander had imprinted on his body. He was glad it hadn't come to that. No matter how necessary or often he was ordered to do so, Sai intensely disliked killing fellow Konoha shinobi.

The mokuton-user clicked the radio. "Sai has located the targets. Sending coordinates."

"Copy that. Rendezvous at that locale."

It was in the seconds right after that when both shinobi realized something was wrong. "Now really, this is disappointing. Did you two really think you could enter my domain without my knowledge?"

The ANBU captain reacted by flash-summoning an exploding kunai and throwing it while simultaneously raising a wood wall, in combination with Sai releasing a horde of ink creatures at the Sannin. Knowing that it would only distract the man for a moment, the two raced down the tunnel in the opposite direction, with Sai leaving a booby-trapped seal bomb in their wake.

"Taicho, we've got a problem." His radio transmission paused as Sai's bomb went off, obliterating everything within twenty meters. "Orochimaru is right behind us. We'll have to abort."

*break*

Kakashi swore as he ducked Sasuke's swing. He should have known it wouldn't be this easy. One of the brilliant minds behind Konoha's security measures such as the sensor bubble was the snake traitor. Why hadn't he considered that the man might implement similar techniques?

Kabuto smirked as he danced around a momentarily-disabled Sakura while evading Naruto's frenzied attacks. "Having a senior moment, Kakashi-kun?"

Planting a kick on the Uchiha's chest only to discover it was a clone, the jonin grunted as he received a six-centimeter gash on his arm. "You might say that."

"Oh don't worry," the medic replied playfully as he backhanded Naruto towards the "fight" between the sharingan users. "That happens to the best of us."

Naruto snarled and got to his feet, and locked eyes with Sasuke for the briefest of moments, long enough for the Uchiha sleeper to use genjutsu to transfer the locations of Orochimaru's operating posts and memories of the recent meeting with Kumo to the blond's head. Reeling from the mental overload, Naruto fell down, clutching his head.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled as she finished reattaching her thigh muscles and ran to her teammate, dropping a mildly toxic smoke bomb to prevent interference. At the same time, Tenzo and Sai crashed through a door. Taking in the situation, the two piled on top of Kabuto and Sasuke, giving Sakura precious time to alleviate Naruto's crippling migraine.

"Well well, the gang's all here," Orochimaru commented. "And what brings you all to my humble abode?"

"Don't play dumb," Kakashi growled as he seamlessly switched with Tenzo and lunged at the Sannin with a crackling hand and ninjato. "Konoha doesn't need you attacking us while we're trying to stop the war."

"And so now Konoha sanctions home-invasion and assassination, does it?" Orochimaru grinned. "Sarutobi must be spinning in his grave for Tsunade to betray dear old sensei's ideals."

Naruto got up, his eyes glowing dangerously. "You're one to talk about betrayal," he said as he shunshined and attempted a slash. "You betrayed the village your parents died for."

For the first time in Kabuto's and Sasuke's memories, Orochimaru's composure slipped in battle. "What did you say boy?" he hissed as he used the Kusanagi to decapitate one of the blond's clones.

"Danzo showed me your file once, and Jiraiya told me about when you were teammates," Naruto continued as he dodged a new flurry of strikes. "Your parents were shinobi, just like you, but they never betrayed the village like you did." He snorted, fully aware of the Sannin's rising fury. "They're probably spinning in their graves like tops by now. Their only son, stabbed the village they died for in the back!"

"INSOLENT BRAT!" Orochimaru shouted as he gut-punched the blond container into the far wall. "You have no idea what I've done for Konoha!"

Sakura, Sasuke and Kabuto found themselves unwittingly paralyzed by the incredible killing intent flooding the room from the Sannin, a potent reminder of the man's legendary status. It was all Kakashi and Tenzo could do not to run away.

Naruto didn't fold however, unleashing his own furious killing intent, backed by the Kyuubi's chakra. "You killed the Sandaime! You kidnapped orphans and experimented on them! You branded your own student with the Cursed Seal! How did any of that ever help the village?"

"I did what I could to try and make it stronger!" the pale man snarled as he unleashed an obscenely powerful "Futon: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough). "I tried to recreate bloodlines! I tried to increase the shinobi potential of the village throwaways! I did what Konoha would not because of morals! But the village rejected me! They rejected everything I did! KONOHA BETRAYED ME!"

This was a side of the Sannin that no one had ever seen before. To Sasuke and Kabuto, he almost seemed…_vulnerable_. Kakashi, Tenzo, Sai and Sakura could only watch as Naruto took blow after blow from the enraged man before being hoisted up and blasted through the cave ceiling.

*break*

Danzo burned the emergency message from Sai and leaned back in his chair. Orochimaru…where had he gone wrong? After sending off two more operatives to escort the heavily wounded team back, he had carefully reread everything that Orochimaru had said. The boy had been willing to do whatever was necessary to help the village once, but had not been able to accept how the village viewed his methods. He closed his eyes. Like it or not, Shimura Danzo had contributed to the most infamous traitor in Konoha's history. It was like that old adage. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. He sighed and stood up to leave. It was time he told Tsunade and Jiraiya the truth about their teammate.

**One thing I have a huge problem with is how Kishimoto seriously nerfed Orochimaru. The man could go toe-to-toe with Jiraiya himself, and he was beaten by Sasuke that easily? I think it was a cop-out.  
><strong>

**This chapter sort of plays as my personal theory on how Orochimaru went bad. No character ever starts out evil. I also tried to link how Danzo got his arm and those eyes to Orochimaru a little better than canon.**

**Sorry if this chapter doesn't make a whole lot of sense with Kumo. I'm not good at writing politics yet.**

**Review!  
><strong>


	20. Chapter 19

**Well, here it is, Chapter Nineteen. Sorry about the long wait. I've been on hiatus to study for college and pay for next semester. This chapter is dedicated to showing just how fucked up the Shinobi World really is. Read and Review!**

Chapter Nineteen

One would think, Gaara mused, that between the combined efforts of three Great Villages, an organization like Akatsuki would be easier to locate. Especially given the remains of the cave where he'd died and been rescued from by Konoha. Then again, he corrected himself, they were all S-ranked missing-nin for a reason. He set down the report from the Mizukage and turned back to the one from the Hokage. The news of saboteurs with Kiri, Konoha, and Suna hitai-ate was troubling. He knew damned well that no orders would have come out of the Suna Council ordering something of this magnitude.  
>And the council knew damned well what would happen if they went behind his back, again.<p>

Some thoughtful aide had fished out the old personnel files for the various Suna instigators. He flipped through them idly, wondering what brought them together, when something caught his eye. Suna Chuunin Rantao Uki, former Puppeteer Corps executive officer, under Akasuna no Sasori.

"Kankuro!"

His brother all but flashed into existence at his elbow. "What is it?"

"Dig up the file on Sasori, and run a background check through our ranks on shinobi who've been associated with him. Put everyone who had extended contact with him on restriction."

"On restriction…" his brother repeated numbly. Knowing how connected Sasori had been before his treason, that could very well _halve_ Suna's ability to handle missions. It would cripple the village at a time when reserves were dangerously low.

"Yes. If Sasori is connected to Akatsuki, he may the one behind the destabilization of Kumo. What's to say that he doesn't have more sleeper agents in our ranks? If we left them in and sent them out on missions in sensitive territory, that would be much worse than cutting the village's income in half. They could sabotage us at a time when we can't afford that."

"Gaara, we can barely afford to cut back even _five percent_ of our forces!"

The Kazekage leveled a glare at his brother. "We don't have a choice. But I'm sending a copy of Sasori's file to Konoha and Kiri, along with a recommendation that they look into their own forces for sleepers. Tsunade's been helping us out to this point. I'm going to ask her to loan us a few Yamanaka clan members. And maybe Team 9."

Kankuro growled as he eyed the list of instigators, imagining how the Council was going to take this. "The Elders are going to go nuts, you know," he warned.

"Do you have a better idea?"

*break*

Tsunade's eyes narrowed and her drunken demeanor vanished as she stared over the lip of the bottle in front of her at the the village elders.

"Tsunade," Koharu began. "we-"

"If you're going to try and convince me again to keep Naruto as a prisoner in the village, it's not going to happen.

"That is not what we're here for," Homura replied, brusquely.

Jiraiya frowned, noticing how the two elders were abnormally far apart from the one-armed cripple they shared positions with. "I'm guessing Danzo-sama has a story to tell us, right?" he asked as he idly flipped his empty sake bottle into the trash can.

"About your erstwhile teammate, Jiraiya," the man answered. "I thought it appropriate, given the content of the mission report from Kakashi. And evidently, the two of you had a similar idea," he used the head of his cane to indicate the sake in front of the blond woman.  
>The white-haired man threw his head back and looked at the ceiling. "All this time, I thought Oro-teme just threw us aside. I always thought it was his ambition that made him turn against the village." The sage ran his hand through his long hair and sighed. "Show's what I know. Spymaster of Konoha and I'm clueless where it counts."<p>

Danzo's mouth showed the barest traces of a smirk. "I am your senior in age, experience, and profession. I would not have been doing my job correctly if you were able to piece together events that I did my best to hide."

Tsunade's fist thumped on the desk, leaving a slight depression in the wood. "Get to the point, Danzo," she hissed.

The man once again adopted the stoic expression which was his custom. "This story has its roots far in the past, with Orochimaru's parents. You no doubt remember his eagerness to hear stories of their achievements."

"How could we forget?" the blond muttered. When their albino teammate hadn't had his nose buried in a scroll or wasn't practicing a new jutsu or wasn't effortlessly stomping a mudhole in Jiraiya's ass, he had been excitedly asking Sarutobi about his parents. Haru and Yukia Watsuki had been legends among Konoha shinobi at the time, though their feats were never recorded. Sarutobi's prize student endlessly regaled them with those tales during the times when their sensei had been elsewhere. Jiraiya, ever sore about being the dead-last of the team, would merely grumble while Tsunade always thought it cute how much Orochimaru's eyes shone when talking about his parents. Considering how he'd never known them, his enthusiasm was very understandable.

Their teammate was especially taken with the story of how they went out. Both Haru and Yukia had volunteered with ten other shinobi to serve as a front guard for Konoha at a time when two entire armies were bearing down on the village. The Sandaime had been one to lead the relief force, and personally witnessed the inseparable couple annihilate one third of their enemies in a suicide attack to save the four survivors of that defensive stand. Even at the point of death, when they could have retreated to save themselves and their comrades, the two had instead chosen to sacrifice themselves to ensure that Konoha remained safe. This had impressed on Orochimaru a strong desire to protect and serve the same village his parents died for. The Sandaime had noted it when he was considering who to choose as a successor.

"During the Second Great War, after your little tangle with Hanzo, he came to me with some very controversial ideas. He'd become hardened by the war, but not completely so. He wanted my opinion on things like conducting various questionable experiments and forbidden research." He paused. "I convinced him that ensuring the safety of the village took precedence and sacrifice."

The silence was paradoxically deafening. "You," Jiraiya snarled. "_YOU'RE the reason he went rogue?!_"

"No. I am the reason he was conducting those experiments when Hiruzen discovered him." Homura and Koharu thought their fellow elder had quite the intestinal fortitude to correct a currently wrathful man who was certainly capable of splattering everyone in the room across the walls. "Orochimaru went rogue because he was confronted on less than accepting terms. Hiruzen was a father figure to him. His outrage at Orochimaru's experiments was taken as a rejection."

"And why the hell _wouldn't_ sensei reject them?!" The toad sage demanded. "I saw the reports on what he was doing in his labs! There's no way Konoha could possibly endorse-"

"It wasn't _Konoha's_ approval he was after, Jiraya," Danzo replied icily. "it was Hiruzen's."

"Again, _why the hell wouldn't sensei reject them?_"

The one-eyed elder sighed. "Ever the naïf, Jiraiya. As the Hokage, Hiruzen should have understood that sacrifices are at times necessary to ensure the welfare of others. We are shinobi. We dirty our hands so that others may remain clean. Your uncle, Tsunade-sama, understood it and taught it to me. To both of us, actually. I suspect that because it troubled him greatly, Hiruzen never internalized that lesson until he called upon my services to aid Kirigakure." His eye lost focus as he ruefully recalled the day. "It's a pity that his stubbornness brought us to this point."

If looks could kill, Danzo would have suffered at least twelve heart attacks by now. "I don't think" the Godaime ground out "that my uncle would EVER have approved what he did in those labs! Kidnapping orphans? The cursed seal? That abominable jutsu that reanimates corpses?!"

"Tobirama-sensei was the one who created the Edo Tensei," Homura interjected. "As Shimura has said, he understood the concept of necessary sacrifice."

"That's not 'sacrifice!' That's desecration!" the medic snarled.

"The dead have no need for their bodies," Koharu said dismissively. "In any case, this is off topic."

"Thank you, Koharu," Danzo nodded. "Hiruzen attacked Orochimaru in a rage, forcing him to flee. You, Jiraiya, confronted him and, despite his attempts to explain his actions, tried to kill him for treason."

"What?! That's not true! _He_ tried to kill me when I wanted to stop him!"

"That's how you remember it," the elder revealed. "I modified your memory and Hiruzen's."

Once again, silence settled on the room. "You did _what?!_"

"I made you think that Orochimaru betrayed the village in order to hide the truth. After he fled, I made contact with him and told him that I approved what he did because it was necessary. His reaction," Danzo grimaced. "could have been better."

"How did you modify their memories?" Tsunade asked. "I thought that requires seals or Yamanaka Clan techniques."

"Genjutsu, particularly those of the Uchiha clan, can also alter memories," Danzo corrected. "After that calamity, I kept in touch with Orochimaru. I sent him subjects and materials that could be spared to continue his research. In that time, during every incident that I met with him, he was always bitter that Hiruzen had tried to kill him. I would imagine that when he confronted Hiruzen atop that building three years ago, it infuriated him that your sensei considered him the traitor. Keep in mind that Orochimaru gave everything he had to protect Konoha. Even today, he is still, in his own twisted way, protecting Konoha by ensuring it has a reason to remain strong in order to fight him. And he was rejected by the most important person in his life: your sensei. Imagine how you would feel. Or imagine how your godson would feel if he sacrificed everything in the name of the village only to be betrayed by one of you."

"Naruto isn't like that!" Both shinobi yelled.

"He may yet become that way."

Tsunade was about to retort when the door flew open. "I didn't want to interrupt, but this is urgent," Kakashi apologized as he tossed the Hokage a scroll. "Suna sent their fastest hawk."

Sparing one final withering glare at the one-eyed elder, the blond scanned the scroll before slamming it down. "Damn it! Get me Inoichi and Ibiki now!"

Kakashi lazily saluted and vanished while Koharu and Homura leaned forward to read. They paled.

*break*

Naruto sparred silently on the training field with his clones, his mind flashing back to Orochimaru's emotional state. It had been easier, he reflected as he diverted a slash to the side, to think of the Snake Sannin as just the murderer of the Sandaime and a traitor. But there was no way to fake the emotional torrent he'd felt streaming off the man. He nursed a gaping wound of betrayal, formented over the years into a raw hatred of the old man. It was difficult for the blond orphan, patronized by the Sandaime, to imagine what he could possibly have done to earn that hatred. Probably not much, he snorted as he used two fingers to shut a blade up and over his head. The village had hated him just for being _associated_ with the Kyuubi. The key was perception. His connection to the beast was the strongest. Likewise, Orochimaru's connection to the Sandaime, from what he'd read, was probably strongest. And then something had gone wrong.

_An issue of trust,_ he thought. Breaking trust tended to have severe consequences. Quite possibly it was a little issue that started it all.

_** Little, like your refusal to tell your friends about me?**_

_Shut up!_

_**I mean, it might be a betrayal of their trust if they're so open to you, but you won't trust them with your status as my jailer. Oh wait, that's because you're doing the best you can to drive them away. Great idea! That'll never backfire!**_

"Shut up!" He snarled out loud.

_**You can't deny it, boy. You're so troubled by that traitorous snake's feelings because he's like you!**_

"SHUT UP!" He roared, instinctively channeling rage chakra and dispelling all the clones around him, drawing a squeak of fear from a nearby tree.

_**You're afraid of betrayal, boy. You've been desperate to be accepted, so you threw yourself into the service of your village. You risked your skin repeatedly for this sorry cesspool you call home for the scraps of approval. You're afraid of losing that, so you try your best to act selfless, to sacrifice everything you have for this place. Just. Like. That. SNAKE.**_

"GRAAAAAH! SHUT UP YOU DAMN FOX!" Naruto grabbed at his head and dropped to his knees."I'M NOTHING LIKE HIM!" The Kyuubi's taunts burned through the walls of self-discipline Naruto had built up over the years. The idea…just the idea that he could be compared to Orochimaru drew out his wrath. He clawed at his neck, tearing strips and drawing a significant amount of his blood. "HE KILLED JIJI-SAN!"

_**That old man betrayed him. You know that as well as I do. You and I both felt it. You just can't stand the possibility that maybe the old man could have betrayed YOU. You both had the same father figure. You both slaved and sacrificed for this infested slime pit. And what have you got for it? NOTHING.**_

"**THAT'S NOT TRUE!**" Naruto howled. Then he channeled an obscene amount of his chakra to his hands and blasted a pulse that flattened several trees in front of him. When the gale died down, he balled his hands into fists, glaring at something only he could see while Hinata, who had been worriedly watching him from the trees, came up to him and tentatively laid a hand on his shoulder. "That's not true," he growled to himself as Kurenai, Kakashi, Inoichi and several ANBU showed up, drawn by the display. _That's not true…_

*break*

Kitsuchi couldn't help but feel like he was being watched. Oh sure, Takigakure had shinobi out to observe his forces and make sure they were only passing through, but something in the back of his mind told him that other people were out there with less than neutral intentions. As leader of the current force of Iwa shinobi, his job was to ensure their safe arrival at the joint staging area in Otogakure. Honestly, he wanted nothing to do with it. He'd seen his share of war, and the little taster was enough.

"Something wrong, otou-san?"

He turned to address his daughter. "I feel like everything's wrong. This war, our presence here, the fact that we have mysterious creatures showing up in our village, but the Tsuchikage's word is absolute."

"Don't tell me you don't have the stomach for fighting," the woman snorted.

"War is a terrible thing, Kurotsuchi. I'd rather have peace. I'd rather just talk rather than fight."

"We can't exactly 'talk' with a village that sent Mokuton clones to bomb our country."

"We don't know that Konoha is responsible," he chided.

"Who else could it be?!" She snapped. "The Shodaime Hokage was the only one who had that ability. They're behind this. There's no one else!"

"It seems that way, but too much so," the father asceded with caution. "There is such a thing as false evidence."

"I don't know. It's pretty hard to falsify a kekkei genkai that specific. Besides, the genetic material matches Hashirama Senju."

She did have a point, the man admitted. Every single test they'd run showed it as Hashirama's DNA. It was damning evidence. But Konoha was still dealing with the aftermath of Orochimaru's invasion, and Iwa's opportunistic attack from three years ago. It didn't make any sense to run this kind of operation on their end. He was missing something. He was sure of it.

*break*

"Well he's smart, Sasori no Danna un. Maybe we should take him out?"

The puppet user shrugged as he observed from above. "If you happen to hit him with one of your bombs, I could care less. Just make sure you save something for the Taki Jinchuuriki."

"Well I was thinking my C3 would do a lot here, un," Deidara commented as he scratched his chin in thought.

"That's going overboard," the Suna nin replied flatly. "but if you insist. Just don't use your C4. They need to be alive enough to fight Taki and distract them. This isn't Kiri, and we're no longer running extermination missions. Actually," he reflected with a rare moment of humor. "I don't think we were ever running extermination missions."

"Hey, it was only that one time, un!"

"By my count, you blew up five resistance outposts that we were sent to investigate and capture leaders from. Alive."

"There was nobody important there, un!"

"And in each case, we only found that out after you'd already wrecked the place."

Deidara grumbled and fussed over a small colored piece of clay while Sasori eyed the Great Tree. _I've always wanted to perform on a stage that's a work of art itself, _he mused. _It'll be a shame to destroy it. Such an enduring piece, that tree._

"It's ready, un."

"Go."

Deidara's face lit up in a manic grin as he raised his arm. "Bomb's away!"

The colored clay streaked downward until it was a bare half a kilometer above the Iwa force. When it exploded in a rainbow display, the Zetsu clones disguised as Taki shinobi rushed out of hiding at the startled Iwa force. Following the initial clash, the clones retreated with a vengeful army in hot pursuit, towards the Great Tree. Knowing that Zetsu clones impersonating the Iwa shinobi were doing something similar to the Taki forces, Sasori readied himself for the fight to capture…Fu. That was her name. On the grand stage of Taki, he would give an epic performance.

**Again, I'm sorry for taking so long.**


	21. Chapter 20

**Yes, I live. I'm sorry that it took so fucking long to update, but I've had a really busy life in college up till now. Switching majors really tends to fuck up your priorities. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Read and Review!**

Chapter Twenty

Tsunade stared at her distant relative from across her desk, while Shizune stood behind her with a mental evaluation form on a clipboard. "You want to explain your tantrum on the training grounds to me, gaki?"

"No," Naruto growled.

"Well tough shit. You're going to explain it, or I take you off the duty roster. What the hell got your panties in a wad? No wait, don't tell me, snake eyes. Am I right?" Taking the downward shift of his eyes as an affirmative, the hokage plowed on. "Naruto, I don't know what is going through that thick skull of yours, but you need to get over it. Orochimaru did what he did for his own reasons. They don't apply to you, and they never will. The village accepts you like they never accepted him. Don't shitcan it by throwing a fit and almost killing the Hyuuga heiress because you're too teary-eyed to fucking AIM!"

Naruto hissed. "The only reason those bastard villagers out there accept me is because I'm willing to do whatever it takes to protect their sorry asses. The snake-teme was doing the same thing! What about-"

The jolt from the slap couldn't have been harder if Tsunade had put chakra into it. "Don't you EVER compare yourself to him!" she snapped. "You're better that he'll ever be. Your father had the same attitude, but he never sank that low. If you think you need to take a header off the slippery slope, then the Yondaime is probably rolling in his grave!"

Naruto's eyes flew open in shock. "What? My dad is the Yondaime?"

The senju's tirade screeched to a halt. "Sensei and the pervert never told you?" When she was answered by a vacant stare and a soundless mouthing of "yondaime," she gritted her teeth. "When Jiraiya gets back here, I'm going to kill him…"

***break***

A silver-haired man picked himself up from the wreckage of a tree before popping his right shoulder back into place. "STOP USING ME AS A FUCKING SHIELD! THAT FUCKING HURTS!"

"I thought you enjoyed pain," his companion replied as he used a wind jutsu to blow away several large and explosive bubbles.

From his side of the impromptu battleground, Utakata observed with incredulity how the silver-head took what should have been a fatal hit from his bubble bomb and simply shrugged it off. Before that though, he had been aiming that the man with black threads around his mouth. That guy had simply grabbed his ally and used him as a meat shield.

"I only like it when my enemies share the pain! That's Jashin-sama's blessing!"

The other man extended his arm far more than any person should, and grabbed his partner's neck. "Oh shut up," he breathed before whipping the silver-head at the bubble-master jinchuuriki.

The former Kiri shinobi barely managed to duck under the airborne immortal's scythe before firing off another wall of bubbles at Stitch-Face to keep him away. Then he turned his attention evading the next overhand slash from behind before slapping away the man with a water whip.

"Hold still, damnit!"

"Having trouble getting blood for the blood god?"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP KAKUZU!"

Utakata grimaced. From the looks of it, the guy with the scythe would just soak up his damage until he ran out of chakra. Stitch-face seemed to be the heavy artillery, given how he had previously been slinging out ranged techniques like no tomorrow. _Even if I call on my bijuu, I can't win here. I'd need to take out the threaded freak first, but I don't have anything fast enough to catch him, and I can't get close to him while this guy is in my face._

Kakuzu lazily took his time clearing out the floating mines in front of him. "You can fight all you want, jinchuuriki. Hidan can take whatever you throw at him. Sooner or later, you'll lose."

The former Kiri shinobi opted not to answer verbally, launching an acidic barrage at him before using a Teppodama to send Hidan sailing into the lake. Kakuzu sighed as his rock armor absorbed the acid before sloughing off harmlessly. _Kids these days, no respect for their elders…_

***break***

"This is a very bad idea!" a tanned shinobi with a sucker in his mouth complained. "What if Kiri is watching us right now and they come to sink us? Or if Konoha catches us when we land?"  
>"Shut up Omoi! Now is not the time for your paranoid fantasies!" a redhead yelled at him.<p>

Samui put her face in her hand as her two more immature teammates bickered. _Even my hot-headed brother knows when to keep his mouth shut on a mission._

Omoi did have a good point however. The idea was to bring a force to the back lines of Konoha and create a staging area to cut off the Leaf from Mist reinforcements. The only problem was the fact that they were deep inside Kiri territory, and on water to boot. It would be only too easy for a Kiri jonin to wipe out the entire task force with a single Daibakufu. But at least the Raikage had recognized how high risk the mission was, and sent a small force so as not to lose too many men._ And our chances of getting through this alive would be much greater if those two could shut the hell up._ In this, she was somewhat thankful for the rapidly rising fog. Their voices wouldn't carry as far, and it would be more difficult to be seen on the water.

Her gratitude for the weather conditions abruptly vanished when she sensed chakra in the air. Then the prows of their ships started grinding to a halt, literally grinding into the ice that formed ahead. Finally, as if it weren't enough, she started to hear screaming from the other two ships.

She whirled around and moved closer to her now alerted teammates, knowing that the simplest countermeasure to the style of Kiri's assassins was to stick together. Unfortunately, that strategy only tended to serve up large groups of dead people where shinobi of Zabuza's caliber were concerned.

"Just like old times eh, Ao?" the swordsman asked as he and his two teammates walked out of the mist toward the Kumo shinobi, blood flowing down his blade.

"I wouldn't put it quite that way. You're softer than you used to be."

Omoi and Karui's eyes bugged out while Samui glared at two of the most proficient Kiri assassins alive and Zabuza's little helper, and with others to back them up if the continued screaming was any indication. _Well, it was a gamble. I can't say I'm surprised it failed._

"Since you've obviously won this, will you allow us to surrender and avoid more death?"

The Demon of the Mist scratched at his chin. "Hmm, let me think about it…no."

The Kumo shinobi leapt back as a hail of ice needles stabbed into the deck where they'd been, and then Omoi used both hands on his own sword to block the diagonal shoulder slice from the massive zanbatou. Karui attempted to flank, but the swordsman casually fired a Teppodama into her chest and blew her up against the wall. Samui wanted to help, but knew she could not afford to take her eyes off the older hunter-nin in front. Strangely though, he seemed content to just watch his comrade fight a two-on-one battle.

"You're not helping your partner," she stated.  
>"Of course not," Ao replied. "He's stronger than me, and all I need to do is stand here in order to keep you from interfering. Besides, killing you guys is not my mission here."<br>Saumi raised an eyebrow. "The Ghost of Kiri isn't here for killing?"  
>"Orders from the Mizukage are to incapacitate you all and send you back to the Raikage. The idea" he turned to regard her directly. "is that your leader might stop thinking with his dick when he wonders why we left your people alive instead of sinking all of you. Then he might send out an envoy, proving that he's calm enough to listen to other people."<br>"You seem to know just how to manipulate him," she commented, internally wincing as Zabuza flew between the two, using Omoi's body as a surfboard on the soaked wooden deck.  
>"I wouldn't be much of an assassin if I didn't study my potential targets."<p>

***break***

After the scene in Tsunade's office, Danzo felt he needed to do something to correct Naruto's mindset. He decided to do so by meeting with the boy in the graveyard, in front of Minato's grave marker.

Naruto gave no indication that he noticed the village elder, even as the man stopped beside him. For the longest time, they stood there, and then the boy looked over to catch a slightly wistful expression on the one-eyed man's face.

"Your father was a great man," Danzo commented. "More than anyone else, he understood the sacrifices required of himself to be hokage. It was his genius and his nature that led him to be a candidate for when the Sandaime chose a successor. The other candidate was Orochimaru."  
>Naruto's eyes flashed crimson for a moment, and a noiseless snarl crossed his lips. Danzo pretended not to notice.<p>

"They were very much alike: both self-sacrificing, both willing to shoulder burdens and risks far beyond themselves, both only desiring the best for the village. But only one of them could become hokage."  
>"And how could that snake bastard ever be considered for the old man's seat?!"<p>

Danzo looked at him. "Orochimaru had the best of intentions, Naruto. His work before he was rejected from the village is partly what has allowed Konoha to maintain an edge over the other villages to this day. His downfall and descent is partly my responsibility. It was I who encouraged him to delve into questionable subjects and methods."

Naruto's response was in no way unexpected. In a flash, a red shroud of chakra enveloped his frame as he unsheathed his knife and lashed out. "YOU!" Danzo easily evaded, subtly signaling to his guards to hold off as he made ready to defend himself. "BECAUSE OF YOU THE OLD MAN IS DEAD!"

Danzo allowed himself to be driven back by Naruto's rampage, casually sidestepping or dodging as the boy attacked furiously. Sooner or later, his rampage would end. He was proven right when Naruto stopped, leaning against one of the grave markers while panting and glaring at him.

"It is not solely my fault that Sarutobi was killed, but I do bear a great deal of the blame. It was my manipulations that ultimately led to it. Had I known what would happen…" he grimaced.

"Fat lot of good that does now!" Naruto snarled.

The elder's gaze hardened. "The past is written in stone. What is done is done. If I had the opportunity to go back and correct my mistake, I would do everything I could to ensure that the Sandaime lived and that Orochimaru never went astray. But that is beyond me. The only thing that I can do now is accept the consequences, and move on."

"I'll never forgive you for what you've done," Naruto hissed as he sheathed his knife.

"I neither require your forgiveness, nor expect it. I only require that you do what you can to ensure the survival of the village."

Unable to formulate a response to the logic behind the blunt statement, Naruto could only seethe as the object of his hatred, the man behind the snake, turned and vanished. At the same time, Jiraiya stepped out from behind a grave marker, a suspicious frown momentarily on his face before he moved to put a restraining hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Come on, gaki. Get ahold of yourself. Forget about Oro-teme and let's get some ramen."

***break***

Inoichi, Kakashi, and Tsunade leaned back from the crystal ball, and the hokage pinned the yamanaka with an inquiring stare. "Well?"

The man ran a hand through his hair. "The villagers really fucked him up, I'd say."

"Elaborate."

He sighed. "In the first place, he was unconsciously sensitive to their emotions, and internalized them over the years. No one really helped him to try and let go of that hatred. We were too busy training him to get control over his abilities, and giving him a reason not to go nuts."

"I thought that we were helping him with that," Kakashi commented. "Damn sure he smiled and acted like a normal kid more when we were training him."

Inoichi shook his head. "He buried his hatred. He focused on us, but still kept his hatred. There's a difference between burying your emotions and letting go of them. You of all people should know that."

Kakashi's eye narrowed, but Tsunade cut him off before he could speak.

"Focus on the issue, not your personal histories. Naruto holding on to his hatred of the villagers is not the root of the problem here."

The male blond nodded. "Like nearly everyone out there, Naruto has a need to feel accepted. Since he couldn't win over the village with his personality or history, he tried to do it with actions. He's putting the village first, trying to go with the best impersonal decision even if he doesn't like it at all. Case in point: Sasuke Uchiha's undercover assignment."

"Not entirely," the cyclops countered. "He fought harder than necessary to maintain Sasuke's cover story. He tried everything in order to stop him from going on such a high risk mission despite Sasuke agreeing to it and the potential gains."

"Yes, and that brings me to another aspect of Naruto's personality. You mentioned before that he hates losing people close to him. Sasuke Uchiha qualifies as someone close. Hinata Hyuuga, the Sandaime, Iruka Umino, all of them close. And Naruto responded very violently against Neji, and according to the last mission report deliberately provoked Orochimaru. He took his hatred of the villagers and transferred it to Orochimaru. And therein lies the problem."

"What do you mean?" Kakashi asked. Tsunade remained quiet with a grim look on her face, behind her clasped hands.

"Naruto has based himself on earning accepted from his actions. He put the village first in nearly every way. Now however, he found out that Orochimaru had done the same. The same person that he hates so much for killing a close father figure was very much like him a long time ago. He recognizes that similarity, and he's very uncomfortable with it. Think about it. How comfortable would you be to see yourself in the murderer of a close family member or friend?"

An awkward silence greeted the question. Kakashi knew that feeling very well, having committed many revenge kills for his subordinates during his time as an ANBU Captain. Tsunade had felt many of her patients experiencing that same feeling after approaching enemy territory during the last war, and seeing things very reminiscent of their own homes and families, rather the monstrosities that the enemy had been made out to be.

"So that's Naruto in a nutshell right now. He hates Orochimaru, but he also sees himself in the man. He wants to be accepted, but he's also afraid of becoming like someone he hates, especially because of their similar beginnings. And what he needs right now is the knowledge that at least someone out there will accept him for what he is, no matter what he does," the mind walker finished. He locked eyes with Tsunade. "But you didn't need me to tell you that. You just wanted a second opinion."

The barest of smirks crossed her lips. "I did. And now that you've confirmed my observations, I know just how to get that gaki's head on straight. There's one person who's perfect for the job."

Kakashi hung his head. "Oh hell no. With all due respect, she doesn't have the confidence for it, Tsunade-sama."

The blond woman shook her head. "You'd be surprised, Kakashi."

***break***

Onoki slapped both hands on his forehead after reading the report of the unexpected engagement in Takigakure. What in the hell happened? Taki had given him their word of neutrality, but his forces had been attacked first. And yet somewhere else on his desk was a letter of protest insisting that Iwa forces had thrown the first kunai. The proof cited lay in the involvement of a certain Deidara, the mad bomber. Which was bullshit!

Deidara had been one of his brightest students, and then he'd had to go rogue and steal that kinjutsu. He was in no way a member of their forces. And as of the last intelligence, he was supposed to be working as a free agent for hire while perfecting his "art."

But what was he doing in Taki? Certainly Iwa wasn't paying for his services, and Taki wouldn't have sent that letter bitching him out for the damage caused by his signature clay bombs if they had been footing his bill. Was there a third party?

He flailed through the stacks of paper on his desk and found that letter again. _We strongly protest the unprovoked attack by Iwagakure upon our observing forces. You leave us no choice but to yadda yadda yadda. Do not deny your involvement. We have remnants of Deidara's clay bombs from numerous craters within the Great Tree. Coincident with your attack, the Nanabi has disappear-what?!_ He pulled the letter closer to his face. _Nanabi has disappeared. We consider this attack and the sightings of Deidara near the disappearance areas of other bijuu proof that Iwagakure is behind the kidnappings of the jinchuuriki._

He leaned back. How could he have missed that in the letter? The jinchuuriki for the Nanabi, Fu, now gone. Their own jinchuuriki, Han and Roshi, missing and presumed dead since his forces were unable to locate them. Someone out there is hunting down the bijuu. And Deidara is working for them. He pondered the possibilities. Konoha certainly wouldn't be doing this. They would never attack a historical ally like Taki. Kiri, perhaps? No. They were strong isolationists, rivaling Amegakure in that respect. Suna? Well there were rumbles of an attack on their village, but nothing about their jinchuuriki. Damn, no answers there.

But Deidara is a missing-nin. Some group out there hired him out, and he was an S-rank threat. That took some serious money. And if they could hire him out, they could certainly hire out another S-rank missing-nin. What notable ones were out there? Kisame Hoshigaki, Itachi Uchiha, Orochimaru, Sasori-

He bolted upright. Akasuna no Sasori, the puppetmaster, and behind Jiraiya of the Sannin as a spymaster. He was semi-infamous for his ability to produce sleeper agents. His duplicity was known to be just shy of Orochimaru. What if he was behind the invading shinobi that entered Iwa and Kumo? No wait, not all of them could be his. Some of those shinobi had turned into trees after being discovered. That suggested someone of Konoha. And while the village itself wouldn't sink that low, the Shinobi no Yami himself, Danzo Shimura, certainly would be willing to.

Then again, something like this was hardly subtle. It didn't bear the hallmarks of his past handiwork. Perhaps someone was framing Konoha, by using something that strongly resembled Mokuton. Sasori's work however would be easy to determine. But in his place, someone would have had to pay him a hell of a lot to undertake this kind of mission. The number of sleeper agents essentially thrown away in this mission would have a huge amount of time and resources to be compensated for.

And who would have that kind of money? Only a country would be able to properly compensate for someone like that. Could it be Suna? Suna seemed to be the one nation untouched since their disastrous alliance with Orochimaru. No one had tried for their jinchuuriki as far as he knew. What if Sasori never went rogue? What if it was a deep cover and he was serving Suna? What if Kaze no Kuni was stabbing their allies in the back and orchestrating this war?

Onoki cut off that train of thought. Too complicated. What would Suna have to gain from this kind of endeavor? Nothing that he could foresee. No rational person could possibily look on this sort of plan as viable for any objective. But then again, he reminded himself, no one is ever completely rational.

***break***

**In case it isn't already obvious, my version of Danzo is less narcissistic and more focused on the welfare of the village. This means no backstabbing the village when I finally get to the part where Nagato invades.**

**Also, for those who've bitched about my Naruto being another Jesus-Naruto, this chapter showcases just how messed up he still is. And it also lays the ground for a more believable Naruto-Hinata romance.**

**And as I said before, Suna keeping the rescue mission of Gaara under wraps will have some consequences. Funny how Onoki is fairly accurate in his analysis of the situation, and yet arrives at a completely different conclusion from the truth.**

**Who is backing Akatsuki? Amegakure, a village.**  
><strong>Is someone framing Konoha? Yes, Madara Uchiha, or as we now know, Obito.<strong>

**Interesting, isn't it?**

**Edit: There was a little inconsistency that was brought to my attention in Chapter 17. Kudos to tavin93 for pointing it out.  
><strong>


End file.
